Sani also said it was wrong to delegate the Chief of Staff and presidential spokesman to negotiate with NLC
By Kehinde Okeowo
Human rights activist and former senator, Shehu Sani has said President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government should have drawn a clear road map on how to tackle the fallout of fuel subsidy removal before resuming office on May 29.
He made this known while speaking on Arise Television’s Programme, Morning Show, where he also identified some mistakes the Federal Government made while negotiating with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), over the ongoing strike.
According to Sani, it was wrong to delegate Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila and his spokesman, Dele Alake, to negotiate with representatives of NLC.
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In his candid opinion, such negotiations should have been done by the minister of labour, who will also be held accountable for whatever decisions were taken.
Speaking during the programme, Sani said: “This government has done what other governments have not been able to do, which is the removal of subsidy, Labour and government have come to terms for the first time that subsidy has to go but the problem is in the area of implementing palliative measures and actions needed to be taken to alleviate the consequences.
“There were negotiations between the government and Labour, but the fact that the government is just coming to office and you can’t pinpoint a minister that will be held responsible like under Buhari’s regime when we had Ngige, but now the government is still at its infant stage, and there is no specific person to drive in the process.
“After the first increment of petrol, there were negotiations, but you can’t specify areas of agreement because the government is still in the process of forming itself. When Labour said they were unattended to at the Villa, Labour has made a genius effort, but there has to be somebody to pinpoint.
“You can’t put the Chief of Staff or the spokesperson of the government to negotiate, you need a ministry and a minister who is absent. I think it can still be salvaged, which is this protest, and second is shutting down services nationwide, which I have not seen.
“The mistake the government made was that the period it took before the swearing-in and having known there would be no subsidy, they should have drawn up a roadmap in tackling the consequences of fuel subsidy, everything was done like an afterthought.”
