President Bola Ahmed Tinubu held a private meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to address the rising security challenges in the country and avert the imminent threat of nationwide protests and industrial action by the Union.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, NLC president Joe Ajaero disclosed that the union would continue to hold consultations on the outcome of the discussion with the president before deciding on its next line of action.
Ajaero defined the meeting as a consultative session rather than a final negotiation, noting that labor leaders would have to report back to their internal structures first before issuing any public statement.
“We came for a consultation with the President, and we are finished. So we have to go back to our meeting and then continue tomorrow (today). By tomorrow (Wednesday), we will get the outcome.” He stated.
The NLC president declined to confirm whether the union would continue with the planned protests, stressing that the decisions of the congress are reached collectively.
“If I’m insisting or not insisting, I will communicate that to you,” he said. “It is not an organization that one person rules. We will go back to the drawing board, digest all that Mr. President said to us, and move forward from there.”
Imo State Governor and Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, Senator Hope Uzodinma, who also attended the meeting, emphasized that continued dialogue was the best approach to settling unresolved issues between labor and the government.
According to Uzodinma, “Consultation is going on. We were dialoguing, and like he (Ajaero) said, at the end of the day, you will know what you are supposed to know and what you want to know.”
The Governor further said, “We are here to serve the country, the labour, the government, and the governed. We are all working in service to the nation.”
The union leaders are expected to converge for further deliberations to determine a more definite position on their next course of action.