The meeting, which was also attended by all the major civil society organisations based in Abuja, was chaired by the President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba.
The meeting, which was held at the Olaitan Oyerinde Hall of the Labour House, Abuja, started at about 4pm and ended by 5:25 pm.
A senior labour leader, who confided in one of our correspondents, said that leaders of the NLC took a unanimous decision to condemn the price increase and mobilise workers for a nationwide protest on Wednesday to prevail on the government to reverse the action.
The source said that the NEC decided to fix the planned action for Wednesday to give a two-day period to the government to reverse the increase which they described as harsh and inimical to the existence of the poor Nigerians.
However, the President of the NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, told journalists shortly after the meeting that the decision of the NEC would be made known at a press conference on Saturday.
Wabba said the decision of the NEC would be reconciled with that of the Trade Union Congress.
He said, “Comrades, we have had our meeting, but we cannot talk to you now. We have a press briefing for tomorrow at 12noon. We will address the press jointly with the TUC and our position will be made known to the media and the country.”
A source at the meeting said the decision to embark on a nationwide strike was not opposed by any of the labour leaders.
The source said that the unionists expressed frustration that the President, who they supported in the last general elections, did not accord them the expected respect.
The source said the members lamented that the way the pump price was increased without consultation with labour showed that the government did not have any regard for workers.
According to the source, members recalled that in spite of the fact that a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, provided the statistics and other reasons for the increase, and the former President Goodluck Jonathan invited them to a dinner where he spoke to them, the move was turned down.”
The source said, “We told you that the meeting was going to be smooth and short. The fact is that the people are not happy.
“The NEC is even saddened by the way the increase was announced; there is no respect, no consultation. Look, this was not the case in 2012 under Jonathan. I remember on that night of the dinner, Okonjo-Iweala did her presentation showing us her statistics and the President spoke to us. Yet in spite of that we turned him down.
“But in this case, there is no regard for anybody at all yet we worked for this government.
“If you are insisting that the meeting was stormy, how come that it did not last for a long time? The fact is that after the introduction which took some time, the NEC tabled the issue and a decision was taken unanimously to embark on a national strike on Wednesday. It is a total strike not a warning strike.”
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