The organised labour has kicked against the plan by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to pay N8,000 monthly to 12 million poor households.
Recall that the Federal Government had announced that it would transfer the sum of N8,000 monthly to 12 million poor and low-income households for a period of six months with a multiplying effect on about 60 million individuals.
The President also stated that the money would be transferred directly to beneficiaries’ accounts.
However, President, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Festus Osifo, dismissed Tinubu’s plan, saying that the action runs contrary to the works of the Presidential Technical Committee on the removal of Subsidy.
“Any palliative payment must be in line with the agreement reached with labour in line with the technical committee meeting,” Osifo said in a chat with Vanguard on Thursday.
READ ALSO: Fuel Subsidy: Tinubu Seeks Reps. Approval Of N500bn For Palliatives
A senior officer of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) speaking anonymously said the President made up his mind and didn’t consult with organised labour.
“The issue is whether the President has trust and confidence in the Steering Committee set up or not. If he has a budget already, it means that he already has activities he has planned on his own. If he has that, what is the need of the Committees? The action of the President has actually undermined the credibility of his own Committee
“We believe that it is not only undemocratic but shows that the President is merely setting up the committee as a window dressing for whatever purposes he has set out for himself.
“When you also look at what he has planned, to give N8,000 to households for six months which approximates to N48,000, you ask yourself, can N48,000 address the millions of suffering the government has already inflicted on the poor?
“Will it make any significant impact in addressing the consequences already being faced by Nigerians? Will the suffering suddenly end after six months?” the NLC source queried.
