Former Kaduna central senator, Shehu Sani, says President Bola Tinubu-led federal government made some mistakes in their negotiation process with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the ongoing nationwide protests.
The socio-political commenter pointed out that it was wrong to delegate Tinubu’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila and his spokesman, Dele Alake, to negotiate with representatives of NLC.
He stated that the president and his team should have drawn out a road map to cushion the effect of subsidy removal before his swearing-in on May 29.
Sani shared his thoughts while speaking on Arise Television’s programme, Morning Show, and commended Tinubu’s administration for doing what other governments have failed to do by removing the subsidy on fuel.
He also noted that the NLC and government have come to terms for the first time ever that subsidy needed to go, but they faced huge challenges in implementing palliative measures and actions that would cushion its effects.
“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,” Sani said.
“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.”
