The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has been seen at the presidential villa in Abuja on Monday, October 2, 2023.

The labour leaders would be meeting with the federal government to determine if the planned nationwide strike would hold or not.

Recall that the union leaders had declared a nationwide indefinite strike scheduled to commence on Tuesday, October 3, over the hardship orchestrated by the removal of the fuel subsidy. Nigeria’s labour unions held talks on Monday on whether to suspend a strike planned this week after the government offered a wage hike and other measures to offset a sharp increase in the costs of living.

Since he came to office in May, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ended a fuel subsidy and liberalised the naira currency in reforms officials say are painful but necessary to help revive Africa’s largest economy. The measures have tripled fuel costs and inflation is now at 25 percent, prompting the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, to call for an indefinite strike from Tuesday.

After talks late on Sunday, the government offered a package, including a N35,000 ($45) a month pay increase for six months for federal employees, a temporary suspension of VAT on diesel and social security cash transfers to the poorest Nigerians.

NLC and TUC representatives took the offer back to their membership for discussions on Monday to decide whether the strike would go ahead and were then set to resume talks with the government, a union spokesman said.

“We have just concluded the meeting with a mandate to the leadership to perfect its discussion with government,” NLC spokesman Benson Upah told AFP.

The government proposals also included the introduction of gas-powered buses for public transport as a way to bring down transport costs, one of the main complaints for Nigerians. Government officials said they hoped the unions would call off the strike after the package of proposals.

“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago,” Tinubu said in an earlier broadcast for the country’s independence day on Sunday.

“I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.”