Port Harcourt Refinery To Commence Operations December, Tinubu Assures Labour Unions, As NLC, TUC, Suspend Protests

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday night, assured the leaders of the organised labour that the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operations by December 2023.

The organised labour revealed this in a statement on Wednesday night.

The labour centers also noted that the president made a series of promises following which they agreed to return to the negotiations table.

The national presidents of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero and Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo in the statement also hailed Nigerians for supporting the nationwide protest.

“It is pertinent to inform Nigerians that the extent of the success of the protest is underlined by the request of the President of the federal republic of Nigeria; Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu to meet with the leadership of the NLC and TUC in a closed-door session.

“The engagement was fruitful that immense mileage was obtained with regards to the issues that bogged down the work of the Presidential Committee on Subsidy removal and necessitated the protest viz; He committed to an immediate restructuring of the framework for engagement in line with the input of the Labour leaders.

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“He let out a certainty that the Port Harcourt Refinery will commence production by December this year. He pledged to ensure that Agreement is reached on the Wage Award for Nigerian workers immediately.

“He promised to unveil a workable roadmap to the CNG alternative next week. On the strength of the president’s pledge and commitment, we have decided to return to a new and reinvigorated dialogue process to allow for full implementation.

“Once again, we thank Nigerians while we wait for the Government to fulfill its own part of the understanding as agreed with His Excellency; the President.”
 
Meanwhile, consequent upon the fruitful and frank discussion with President Tinubu and their confidence in his ability to encourage open and honest consideration of all the issues put forward by the Labour Movement, the Labour Leaders resolved to stop further protest.

Dele Alake, Special Adviser to the President
(Special Duties, Communications & Strategy), who disclosed this early Wednesday, added that “they opted for further constructive engagement with the government to resolve all outstanding issues as they affect the working people and Nigerians in general.”
 
He continued: “President Tinubu gave his commitment to the Labour leaders that the Port Harcourt refineries will start production by December 2023 after the completion of the ongoing rehabilitation contract between NNPCL and Italian firm, Maire Tecnimont SpA.
 
“President Tinubu assured the Labour leaders that he would continue to work for the best interest of Nigeria while pleading with the Labour leaders to join hands with him to birth a better and economically buoyant country.”