Following the threat by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to resort to a nationwide strike to force the Federal Government to rescind its decision to hike pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) and electricity prices in the country, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has concluded plans to hold an emergency meeting of all the governors with the view to avert the nationwide strike declared by the organised labour.
The NLC had said a nationwide protest would hold on Monday, September 28.
NLC took its position after a meeting with the federal government on the issue last week ended in a deadlock.
The government justified the new fuel price and electricity tariff, despite the obvious difficulties they would cause the people in the face of a harsh economic situation as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The government said the new fuel price was a product of the interplay of market forces under the deregulation policy in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, following the removal of fuel subsidy from the pricing template by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
The government insisted that the deregulation policy and new electricity tariff were inevitable, as it could no longer subsidise fuel price due to dwindling revenues.
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said it is ready to join the NLC in shutting down the economy and the country from Monday if the petrol price and electricity tariff hikes are not reversed.
Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by NGF’s Head of Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazaque Bekko-Barkindo, the emergency meeting was aimed at seeking “ways of settling the rift and finding a mutually agreed soft landing on amicable grounds.
“All governors are expected to attend the meeting as the matter is considered to be of urgent national importance, which needs to be quickly resolved in order not to worsen the already bad situation of Nigerians as caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” the DG of the Forum Mr Asishana Bayo Okauru said.
“The meeting which is the first NGF emergency virtual teleconference starts at 6 pm,” the statement read.
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