President Bola Tinubu has appealed to the organised labour to give him more time to look into their grievances rather than embark on an industrial action.
This was disclosed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas after he led the House leadership to brief the President on the outcome of their engagement with the National Association of Resident Doctors, which has declared a nationwide strike action.
Abbas, after the meeting, told State House correspondents that Tinubu said he was new in office and needed time to evaluate the issues that were raised by the workers over which he was yet to be briefed.
He said, “What he said is that he’s just coming on board. We should ask them and beg them to please give him a little more time.
“The things that they mentioned, he is completely unaware of them; he is yet to be briefed about all those issues.
“But from what he heard from me, he also advised that we should channel those issues to the Chief of Staff to look at one after the other.
“I believe in the coming days, some concerted actions will be taken.”
He said the House leadership invited NARD following their intention to go on strike, saying that the lawmakers succeeded in persuading the union to shelve the plan.
“Sequel to the meeting we had with them, there were a series of conditions that they gave, that we felt we needed to share with the President,” he said.
The Speaker maintained that the purpose of the visit to the Presidential villa on Wednesday was to intimate the President of the progress made with the doctors association.
He also said the House leadership used the visit for familiarity purposes as they had not met with the President since they emerged as leaders.
