Street protests can't persuade FG, says labour minister

Labour Minister Emeka Wogu said the ongoing nationwide protests by labour unions and civil societies against the scrapping of fuel subsidies will not persuade the Federal Government to reverse the policy.He, however, maintained that the government was ready for dialogue with labour in spite of their abuse of a court order restraining them from embarking on strike.Wogu spoke yesterday to journalists shortly after partaking in security chiefs' meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House, AbujaThe meeting reviewed the security situation in the country following a second day of mass protests over the subsidy removal.Wogu said: 'How can government get persuaded' It is not from the streets. It is not from violent protests. It is from persuasion, it is from talking and that is what our laws clearly indicate.'Despite the fact that there is a court ruling, we are still amenable to government to dialogue without going into the merit of the case.'The minister remarked that both government and labour were exploring the option of dialogue, stating that out of the three senior partners in the dispute including government, labour and the Employers Consultative Association (NECA), only labour made of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) did not support the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.'So, in three out of three, it is a question of number and question of democracy, fine aspect of democracy. You know out of three, two agreeing on one issue and one is saying no. So, it means that two is majority and one must have its say,' he said.
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