The consultations for strike was disclosed yesterday as the Senate hinted it might hold an emergency session to address worries raised by hike.
The TUC President, Quadri Olaleye, in a statement, confirmed that consultations had started.He stated that increasing petroleum prices and electricity bills at a time people were losing jobs, when businesses were adversely affected by COVID-19, was a wicked step. He recalled that in June 2016 when the Buhari government removed subsidy, it said it had made provision for N500 billion intervention fund, which labour later found to be a lie.
It has been learnt the Senate leadership is worried about agitations among senators against the hikes. Senators said they were under immense pressure from their 109 constituencies to protest the hike and seek immediate reversal. Commenting on the hike, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, Obinna Ogba, said the increase in electricity tariff and fuel price at a time the economy had yet to recover from the effects of COVID-19, showed government was highly insensitive.
The adjustment in 2000 under the democratically elected government marked a turning point in the economy as petrol moved up to N30 per litre, diesel to N29 and kerosene to N27.