FG-Labour Deal: FEC okays 30-day implementation plan

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a 30-day implementation plan for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the Federal Government entered with the Organized Labour.

This was disclosed on Monday, by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Cabinet meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Lalong said a Memorandum was presented to the FEC on the implementation of the agreement with labour.

“We presented a memo from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the memo was basically on the agreement between the government and labour. You are already aware that 15 items are parts of the agreement.

“But we went beyond mere agreement, we told them that something different this time is happening because one, part of the agreement is to file it in the court of law, which we have set the process already.

“And the other one was the presidential approval. There cannot be any presidential approval more than the Federal Executive Council. So, we presented them to the Federal Executive Council. We analysed every aspect of the agreement to show its genuineness and also provide for a harmonious and good industrial relationship and that was why it was presented and it was approved for implementation.

“It was agreed that within 30 days, there must be evidence of implementation and that was the basis of presenting to the Federal Executive Council the memo. The Federal Executive Council also approved it and within these 30 days, we will go on with the implementation of the agreement between labour and government,” he said.

Speaking on item six of the MoU, which was on the government’s interference in the activities of the democratically elected leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the mandate to the Minister of Labour to resolve the crisis in the union on or before October 13, the Minister said he had met with the various factions

“Item six in the MoU is about interference specifically with issues that were about road transport workers. Immediately, the next day, we embarked on meetings between the two organisations.

“As of today, they have already reached out and have concluded that of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN. Today, they are making a report to the Ministry about their agreement because they went into agreement too and we are also going to get back to their parent association.

“The next one is the NURTW. Last week, we were with them. Of course, if some of you were there, you knew why we postponed it. I reminded them that we are keeping to the date of the agreement but they said they cannot strictly keep to the date because it is very important to them that we realise the aim. So, we shifted the meeting till tomorrow. Today, we are going to get the report, and by tomorrow we will fix a meeting.

“The reason why we presented these items to the Federal Executive Council is for them to note and approve that after these things, we will not want to tolerate interference in union activities.

“But those that are pending are within the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. Our own is to dispense with conflicts and we are going to continue to do that. These two items we have mentioned were the particular things they hammered on when we met. By God’s Grace, in the next few days, those are going to be sorted out,” he added.

Meanwhile, the FEC has also approved the setting up of the Presidential Council on Industrial Revitalisation roadmap, to be chaired by President Tinubu with 10 subcommittees.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, who made this known to State House correspondents, said the subcommittees are to consider all the policies within different ministries, as well as the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.

She said: “We have a lot of policies, frameworks and guidelines that should help to revitalise the industries within these different ministries and agencies. And we’re supposed to collaborate and come up with a single roadmap for each of these subcommittees or each of these roadmaps. And that is geared towards developing the full industrial revival of the economy, in line with the eight-point agenda of Mr President.

“At the end of this, we expect to see a boost in investment coming into the different industrial sectors.

“We expect to see a boost in job creation and employment and a general increase in our indices, especially our GDP growth rates, which were said to be growing from 3.5% hopefully to 7%. And the GDP base of about 1 trillion, which is in line with Mr. President’s vision.

“It is actually because of how to actualise this that we came up with a roadmap to stimulate industrial growth, especially catalysing SME growth and in the whole industrial sectors.”

The Sub Committees include: “Subcommittee on Consumer Credit, Subcommittee on Commodity Exchange, Subcommittee on Heavy Industries and Steel Development, and Subcommittee on Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business.

“Others are the Subcommittee on Licensing and Certification of Artisans, Subcommittee on Trade Facilitation and Realisation, Subcommittee on Mining and Solid Minerals, Subcommittee on Oil and Gas and Subcommittee on Creative Industries.”

Uzoka-Anite added that the subcommittees on Defence, Industries and Pharmaceuticals were stepped down.

The Minister further disclosed that the Council also approved the setup of the committee to review the Free Trade Zone setup.

According to her, the committee is to “look at the setup, look at incentives, look at the laws and the reforms and come up with reforms that will help to stimulate and catalyse the economic benefits of the free trade zones and special economic zones.”