The Federal Government’s order to state governors to develop strategies on the palliatives to lessen the impact of the most recent increase in gasoline prices has been criticized by the Trade Union Congress as “empty policy laced with lies.”
At a press conference in Abuja yesterday, TUC President Festus Osifo stated that the congress did not trust the procedure.
He further requested that the administration refrain from making the residents’ hardship worse by proposing to raise the cost of power and the tuition at tertiary institutions.
“If you listen to the Nigerians Governors Forum, they invited us for meetings and we made our case known to them. There’s nothing specific about the palliative. They said each state should go back and look at what they can do, that’s not how to lead. There’s nothing concrete, there’s nothing we can hold them accountable for.
“If you’re coming out to say each state should pay a certain amount of money as wage award or each state should give some categories of workers tax relief, we can hold you accountable on that and not saying each state should go and do according to their purse.
“What they must bring to the table must be specific and measurable and must be done transparently. For us, anything called palliative must be things we can verify and not something that you will promise us and at the end of the day you will implement.
“We all remember during COVID-19 when palliatives were in warehouses and people were dying on the streets. We do not trust the process. The governors’ forum should do better. They’re talking about mass transits, how many are they bringing up? Let them tell us and we’ll empower our state councils to follow up.”
He praised President Bola Tinubu for suspending the telecom excise tax. It’s a six-month suspension. We believe it ought to be fully abandoned. If introduced, Nigerians will take the most hit. It has to be destroyed. It is not crucial.
He pleaded on the president to deal with the unrest in the Plateau and other regions of the nation.