The mass action embarked upon by Nigerians over the removal of subsidy on petrol by the federal government may not abate soon, as the federal government is proposing a concession of a shift from N141 as price of petrol per litre to N120.
Sources at a meeting which the leadership of Senate had with President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday, hinted that the President had made a concession for N120.
It will be recalled that the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, had led the leadership of the red chambers to the Presidential Villa early Thursday morning, before meeting with the leadership of Labour later in the afternoon.
It was gathered that President Jonathan had told the leadership of the Senate that he would be shifting grounds to a N120 benchmark.
But it was gathered that Mark, rather than announce the position of government to Labour, preferred a meeting between government and Labour where representatives of government would announce government’s position to the Labour leaders.
However, before the meeting between both sides (Labour and government) late Thursday evening, the President had been meeting with some governors, but left the venue of the meeting immediately the Labour team came into the venue.
It was also gathered that the President gave Mark the mandate to negotiate on his behalf, with N120 as a benchmark.
Thus, the representatives of government at the meeting included the Senate President, some state governors and some members of the Federal Executive Council.
But when government announced the new pricing, Labour leaders were said to have requested for a postponement of the meeting to Saturday evening, in order for them to report the position of government to Labour’s National Executive Council (NEC).
The source, who spoke with our correspondent yesterday night said: “As I speak with you now, we are on a recess. Very soon, we will return to the negotiation table. So far, the government has made a concession by shifting the bar to N120. Labour said that they have no mandate to accept or reject the offer by government and requested for an extension of the meeting till Saturday by which time it would have reported back to its NEC.”
Those who attended the meeting included the labour delegation led by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwahed Omar, and that of the Trade Union Congress, Peter Esele; Governors Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Lyel Imoke of Cross River State, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, Babangida Akiyu of Niger State and Peter Obi of Anambra State; ministers Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Finance/Economy), Olusegun Aganga (Trade and Investment), Dizeani Allison-Madueke (Petroleum Resources), Emeka Wogu (Labour) and Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health).
Jonathan delegated authority to Mark for the meeting.
When our correspondent sought to know why the President was absent, a source said, “It is not clear why the president did not participate in the meeting, but sources in the Presidential Villa claim that the President was scheduled for an interview with the Chairman of Channels Television, Chief Tony Momoh, on Thursday and that it is not impossible that the President had excused himself from the meeting with Labour to honour the interview appointment.”