The federal government has given insights into the reason for the meeting and discussion with organized labour on Wednesday.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris spoke with newsmen after the meeting and  said the government plans to engage with labour leaders constantly without having to wait for tensions to arise before initiating discussions.

Asked if the meeting focused on discussions around the new minimum wage, Idris said they were general discussions.

“These are just general discussions. Government is always desirous of engaging with labour, this is one of such engagements. We will continue to interact with them. We don’t wait until there is tension about anything before we engage Labour.

“This is a renewed commitment on behalf of government to continue to engage labour on a number of issues. These engagements have been very fruitful and we will continue to engage with them,” the Minister said.

Asked specifically what the meeting between the government and labour leaders focused on, Idris said a lot of things were discussed, adding that they’ve not reached conclusions that can be shared with Nigerians.

“A lot of things were discussed. But like I said, this is work in progress, this is something that isn’t a one-off thing, but we have not reached anything that we think that we can tell Nigerians now, but what is more important is that, there is going to be continuous engagement between us and labour for the good of the country,” the Minister said.

Further asked if the issue of the recent fuel price hike was discussed during the meeting, the Minister replied “This is our continuous engagement with labour for the good of the country. You know that Labour is an important component of this country, all of them are our brothers and sisters. Government is there for everyone, including labour, so we will continue to engage labour for the good of the country.”