MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th September, 2020) Nigeria's Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Labour Congress (NLC) have suspended a nationwide strike against fuel and electricity price hikes, scheduled for Monday, after reaching a last-minute agreement with the government, Labor and Employment Minister Festus Keyamo said on Monday.
Increased electricity rates have been in effect since September 1 for all Nigerians, except for those consuming less than 12 hours of power supply daily. The authorities have also increased the price of petrol to $0.42 per liter ($1.59 per gallon), sparking nationwide discontent.
"FG [Federal Government] & LABOUR reach agreement at 2:53am. Deregulation to stay as Govt rolls out palliatives for labour (details in 2 weeks); Electricity tariffs suspended by Govt for 2 weeks with a joint Committee headed by @fkeyamo [Festus Keyamo] to examine the justification for the new policy. Strike suspended," Keyamo wrote on Twitter.
According to the official, the parties agreed upon establishing a technical committee consisting of governmental officials, agencies, and representatives of the labor unions to work on the debatable matter of fuel and power tariff increases for the period of two weeks.
