The National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NLIDS) has tasked the Federal Government to put in place palliative for workers to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.
Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, the Director-General, NILDS, said this when he received a team from Michael Imodu National Institute for Labour Studies, led by the Director- General, Dr Issa Aremu in his office in Abuja.
“In spite of the fact that it is necessary to have subsidy removed, I pity Nigerian labour who are going to be the major casualty of such necessity.
“There is nothing anybody can do about it, there is a need to remove subsidy, with time to come, Nigerians will adjust to it, it may be very difficult, may be a very painful decision that the government needs to make.
“We have a collective responsibility to see that the effect of the removal does not dampen the morale of the Nigerian labour, I think it is very important.
“I want to use this opportunity to advise the new government under President Bola Tinubu to come up with a palliative to cushion the effects,” he said.
Speaking, Aremu urged organised labour and trade unions to embrace dialogue with the government on the issue.
“We have a policy pronouncement on fuel subsidy, in all honesty, we know there is a consensus that it cannot be business as usual, maybe the challenge might be how we midwife it.
“The way to manage it is through social dialogue, let me use this opportunity to call on my colleagues in the trade union movement and organised labour who predictably have responded because their mandate is to defend workers welfare.
“At the end of the day, what will resolve this problem is dialogue and our institute is available to encourage and facilitate that process,’’ Aremu said.
