Organized labour has called off its nationwide protest against the removal of petrol subsidy.
They cited the promises made by the federal government as the reason for their decision.
Organized labour and affiliated unions staged protests across the country on Wednesday.
They did this to express their concerns about the hardship caused by recent government policies.
Following the protests, the union leaders held a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa in Abuja.
The meeting was attended by Joe Ajaero, the president of NLC, and Festus Osifo, the president of TUC.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the presidency confirmed that the labour leaders agreed to suspend their strike upon the president’s assurance that the Port Harcourt refinery would resume operations in December 2023.
‘Let’s give them some benefits of doubt’
Speaking on AriseTV on Wednesday night, Osifo mentioned that the organized labour had decided to give the federal government the benefit of the doubt.
Additionally, they requested the president to appoint a representative for negotiations regarding the promises made.
“We had a meeting with the president. Even before then, there was some level of intervention from the national assembly with appeal and promise that within one week, a lot of things will be put in place,” he said.
“The president has committed. He said we should work with his team to propose something that could be for the wage award. He added that he is ready to offer it almost immediately.
“We came back to our secretariat and had some conversations. We now say let’s give them some benefit of the doubt.
“They kept repeating that they are a new government. A communication was released to our members to call off the protest.
“We don’t have any problem with the chief of staff personally, but we felt that the chief of staff is extremely busy, so the president should give us someone who will be ready and available so we can dispense with all these as soon as possible.”