…FG, NLC meeting deadlocked
The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria (AMBCON) has threatened to go on strike by February 27, 2024, if the Federal Government failed to implement the agreement it entered into with the association in 2020.
Among the reasons given for the planned strike were the astronomical increase in the prices of flour, sugar, yeast, vegetable oil and the the high cost of petrol, diesel .
“The Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria have critically assessed the state of our business operation, consequently demand the liberalisation of flour and sugar importation, reduction or total removal of import duties on major baking materials such as flour, sugar, butter, yeast …..,” a statement from the National President of AMBCON, Alhaji Mansur Umar stated on Tuesday.
The statement which was read on behalf of Umar by the Kogi State Chairman of AMBCON ,Chief Gabriel Adeniyi, also harped on the imposition of multiple taxations from several federal, state, local government agencies fees and levies as well as the hike in business activities in Nigeria.
AMBCON called for the immediate implementation of financial support palliatives for bakers as promised by the Federal Government as post COVID-19 support programmes for Small and Medium Enterprises for bakers.
It further called for the suspension of all forms of taxation on the bakery industry for now at the federal, state and local government levels.
The decision to go on strike by the bakers may even be compounded for average Nigerian workers as the meeting between the federal government and Nigeria Labour Congress on the minimum wage issue hit another brickwall on Tuesday.
The Minister of State Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who hosted the meeting on Monday night in Abuja, could not convince Organised Labour to suspend the strike action planned for February 23.
Organised Labour (NLC and Trade Union Congress) on February 8, 2024 issued a 14-day nationwide strike notice to the Federal Government over the failure of the federal government to implement the agreements reached on October 2, 2023, following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit known as petrol.
In a statement signed by the leaders of the two labour unions, Joe Ajaero and Festus Usifo, the organised Labour expressed sadness that despite the passage of time, “The majority of these crucial agreements remain unmet or negligibly addressed, indicating a blatant disregard for the principles of good faith, welfare and rights of Nigerian workers and Nigerians.”
After the removal of the fuel subsidy by the President on May 29, 2023, the labour unions reached a 16-point agreement with the Federal Government on measures to cushion the pains of the subsidy removal on workers.
They said the government also agreed to pay N35,000 to all federal workers beginning from last September pending when a new national minimum wage would be signed into law.
NLC Vice President, Hakeem Ambali was quoted as saying that the strike would start as planned unless the Federal Government fulfil its part of the agreement with the labour movement.
