Contempt charge: NLC threatens strike if summons is not withdrawn

• Why labour suspended strike after meeting Tinubu – Osifo • NNPCL, NIPCO partner to deliver CNG
• CAN: Nigerians should give Tinubu a chance on palliatives • Nothing fruitful in labour leaders’ meeting Tinubu, says Aborisade•
• S’West pensioners demand N40,000 minimum pension Don’t limit discussions to FG alone, hold govs responsible, Yoruba council tells labour
 
After striking a mutual understanding with President Bola Tinubu that aborted the nationwide protest by Organised Labour on day two yesterday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to go on what it termed ‘nationwide comprehensive strike’ from August 14, if the Federal Government fails to withdraw the court case it instituted against it.

However, in compliance with the President’s directive and as part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s commitment to providing cheaper alternative fuel to motorists, the company yesterday announced a strategic partnership with NIPCO Gas Limited to deploy Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations across the country.
 
This landmark collaboration aims to expand CNG infrastructure, improve access to CNG, and accelerate the adoption of cheaper and cleaner alternative fuel for buses, cars and Keke NAPEP, which will significantly reduce the cost of transportation and engender sustainable national economic growth.
 
Under the NNPC-NIPCO strategic partnership, 35 state-of-the-art CNG stations will be constructed nationwide, including three mother stations. Once fully operational, the stations can service over 200,000 vehicles daily, thereby significantly reducing the cost of automobile fuel for Nigerians and the cost of transportation.
 
The project will be rolled out in phases. The first phase, comprising 21 CNG stations, will support intra-city transportation and be ready by the first quarter of 2024, while the second phase, comprising 35 CNG stations, will support inter-city transformation and will be ready by late 2024. This will be further complemented by an additional 56 stations to be deployed by NNPC Retail across the country.
 
NIPCO Gas Limited is currently operating 14 CNG stations across Nigeria and has converted over 7,000 vehicles to run on CNG. NIPCO’s technical competency and field experience will bolster this initiative’s success and amplify its positive impact on the Nation’s economy.

MEANWHILE, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has called on Nigerians to bear with President Tinubu and give him a chance to fix the country. The body also commended the President for taking proactive steps to abort the protest over fuel subsidy removal pains .
 
Speaking during a press conference in Abuja yesterday, the Chairman, Lagos State chapter of CAN and Methodist Bishop of Ikeja Diocese, Stephen Adegbite, advised NLC and TUC that if there was any need for a call to action, it should be for the judicious and accountable use of the funds that would otherwise have been used to subsidise fuel.
 
While describing the fuel subsidy as “a misadventure profiting the rich and politically connected,” he said the issue became worsened when regional neighbours and smugglers started enjoying opulent returns at the expense of the citizenry.
 
According to him, Tinubu’s invitation to the Labour leaders for private discussion, which resulted in a truce, thus ending the nationwide protest, was commendable. He said the President’s action was an indication that he is a listening leader that is interested in getting things done in national interest.
 
Also, the apex body of all Yoruba indigenous people, Yoruba Council Worldwide (YWC), has urged NLC and other labour unions in the country, to start engaging governors and heads of various government parastatals in the pursuit of proffering a recipe to the current economic hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.
 
The group, in a statement issued by its President, Aare Oladotun Hassan, said the organised labour should engage in dialogue and constructive engagement with governors, rather than focusing attention on the Federal Government alone.
 
He said: “There are different areas to the negotiations. They are just looking at one end to the negotiations. The labour unions should be able to bring to the table engagement with the 36 governors and come up with different solutions to the different layers of the issues. The issue of fuel subsidy removal is constant; the issue of the hike in fuel price and dollar rate are separate issues.”

PENSIONERS in the Southwest geo-political zone have demanded for N40,000 minimum pension from governors in the zone. The pensioners made the demand at the end of the meeting of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Southwest zone, held in Ibadan yesterday. The meeting was attended by union executives from Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos and Ogun states.
 
Addressing newsmen at the end of the meeting, the NUP Public Relations Officer for the zone, Olusegun Abatan, said the plight of pensioners had remained static for years.
 
According to Abatan, some pensioners in the zone earn as low as N350 monthly pension, while the governors seem not to see anything wrong with it. He said many states in the zone last paid their pensioners’ gratuities between 2012 and 2014, describing it as criminal and unacceptable.
 
“Governors’ salaries have continued to increase, while some of them still factor in life pensions for themselves after spending four to eight years, without thinking about the lives of pensioners as well as their gratuities and pensions. The Southwest zone of NUP has decided at our meeting that we will not take anything less than N40,000 minimum pension.
 
“It is disheartening to tell you that while workers have minimum wage, there is no minimum pension,” Abatan said.  He said that the removal of petrol subsidy had not only affected the citizens of Nigeria, but had more effect on pensioners.
 
The NUP public relations officer said pensioners now found it more difficult to attend to their medical expenses and other needs as a result of low pension.