THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have called off the one-week old nation-wide strike embarked upon last Monday to protest the January 1 fuel subsidy removal announcement by the Federal Government, which raised the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (popularly known as petrol) from N65 to N141 per litre.
The industrial action, which equally had the full participation of civil society organisations (CSOs), had grounded the economy, resulting in the nation losing hundreds of billion daily.
The development came on the heels of the announcement of a new pump price of N97 per litre for the product by President Gooodluck Jonathan in his second address to the nation in two weeks regarding government's plans to deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry.
The President had held a marathon meeting with the governors and top officials from the executive and legislative arms of government from Sunday evening till the wee hours of Monday where the price was agreed on.
Addressing journalists Monday in Abuja on end of the strike, NLC and TUC presidents, Abdulwaheed Omar and Peter Esele respectively, said the industrial action was suspended after extensive consultations to give government the benefit of the doubt as regards what it had promised to use the saved funds to do and also to save the country and the citizenry of further hardship.
The Guardian