The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has made public the demands it raised with the Federal Government during the meeting held on Sunday regarding the recent removal of fuel subsidies.
In a statement signed by the union’s president, Festus Osifo, and general secretary, Nuhu Toro, on Monday, the union called for the immediate implementation of the demands.
It highlighted 14 of the demands for immediate implementation and five for the medium term.
One of the demands is that the premium motor spirit (PMS) pump price remain unchanged while the discussion goes on.
“Minimum wage should be increased from the current ₦30,000 to ₦200,000 before the end of June 2023, with consequential adjustment on cost of feeding allowance, like feeding, transport, housing, among others.
“A representative of state governors will be party to this communique and all the governors must commit to implement the new minimum wage.
“Tax holiday for employees both in government and private sector that earn less than ₦200,000 or $500 monthly whichever is higher.
“PMS Allowance to be introduced for those earning between ₦200,000 to ₦500,000 or $500 to $1,200 whichever is higher,” it said.
Others include the setting up of intervention fund where government would be paying ₦10 per litre on all locally consumed PMS.
According to the TUC, the primary purpose of this fund is to solve perennial and protracted national issues in education, health and housing.
“A governance structure that will include labour, civil society and government will be put in place to manage the implementation.
“Federal Government should provide mass transit vehicles for all categories of the populace.
“State governments should immediately set up a subsidised transportation system to reduce the pressure on workers and students: the framework around this will be worked out.
“Immediate review of the National Health Insurance Scheme to cover more Nigerians and prevent out of stock of drugs,” the union said.
For the medium term, the union advocated for the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) across the country in line with the earlier pledge made by government.
The framework and timetable would be created and approved by both parties, according to the statement.
It also urged the government and labor to create a framework that would aim to cut the cost of governance by 30% by 2025 and 15% by 2024.
“A framework should be immediately put in place to maintain the road and expand the rail networks across the country.
“Government must design a framework for social housing policy for workers through Rent to Own System.
“The state of electricity in the country must be appraised and an action plan should be defined with time lines on how to get this fixed.
“A strong monitoring team comprising of all parties will be constituted,” the union said.
