What appeared to be a promising rapprochement between labour and government over the fuel subsidy crisis broke down last night as both parties could not reach an agreement. As a result, the strike continues today – its fifth day – while the negotiation will resume tomorrow instead of today reportedly because Fridays are generally half-working days in Abuja. The unions had earlier agreed with Senate President David Mark over lowering the price and had even supported the idea that deregulation could be moved to March from the April date they were proposing initially. But while supporting deregulation “in principle”, they said the price of petrol should first revert to N65 per litre while a committee should be set up to take a comprehensive look at the entire subsidy regime with a view to working out the “most feasible way forward”. Also, the unions wanted government to reduce the cost of governance through a drastic cut in overheads. But the Federal Government proposed a three-tiered phased approach in the deregulation programme, with a caveat that a drastic cut in recurrent expenditure would entail pay cuts and retrenchment across board. However, the negotiation ended last night without a conclusive outcome, even though labour leaders said they had made progress and both parties were ready to shift ground. This Day learnt that the government was proposing N120 per litre, which labour rejected. When they came out from the meeting at 9.45pm, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Abdulwaheed Omar, who was with the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, said they had a “fruitful deliberation”. "The outcome is that we have not concluded discussions yet, but we have had fruitful discussion and we are to continue on Saturday. It is not conclusive yet," Omar said. On labour shifting ground on its demands, he replied: "Yes, that was part of the discussions. Of course, all of us are trying to shift grounds. That is why I told you that we have had fruitful discussions." Esele said they were going back to the people “that sent us” but insisted that until there was a total agreement on the essentials of the dispute, they would continue with the strike. Mark said he was speaking as a mediator and that both sides were shifting ground but that they had to do whatever they would in the interest of Nigerians while further meeting at the instance of Labour would be fixed to finalise on what had been agreed. Asked if the meeting was agreeing to return to N65 per litre, he replied that Nigerians should expect the best outcome. “My responsibility was to get government and labour to talk and we are on the right track. The light at the end of the tunnel is even much brighter now. The meeting is very fruitful. Everybody shifted ground to the level that we will take a decision that will be in the best interest of Nigerians. That will be any moment from now. Nigerians should expect best decision," Mark replied. When Governor Babatunde Fashola emerged from the meeting earlier and was asked the outcome, he put a finger on his lips, meaning “no comment”. Liyel Imoke of Cross River State said: "We are on break… we have not finished". In attendance were President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu, and Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers, Fashola of Lagos State, Adams Oshiomhole of Edo and Imoke of Cross River, Peter Obi of Anambra, Gabriel Suswam of Benue, and Babangida Aliyu of Niger were also in attendance. Also present were Mark, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Senator Victor Ndoma Egba. Labour was led by Esele, Omar, NLC acting Secretary General, Owei Lakemfa, and 14 others who entered the meeting from a waiting room at the residence of the president. They waited for the meeting between the president, senate leaders, governors and ministers for about two hours before they were called in. Barely 17 minutes after the labour leaders entered, Jonathan and Sambo left the meeting. Jonathan did not come back. After about four hours of meeting, the government team went to brief the president on the outcome. Aliyu, meanwhile, was said to have argued that governors should be allowed to handle the subsidy within their domains, but the payment formula should be based on consumption per state. This means Lagos, which consumes an estimated 60 per cent of petrol in Nigeria, would pay most of the subsidy, even though its share from deregulation savings is estimated at N10 billion. Earlier, President Jonathan met with the leadership of the Senate in what State House sources said was to look for a way out of the protests which had locked down the country for the past four days. Alison-Madueke, who spoke to State House correspondents, said reversal or reduction from current deregulated price was only possible when there was dialogue and regretted that the strike called by labour had already been “hijacked and politicised”. She said the government was open to dialogue and had never closed its doors to it, adding that the government had been harping on the gains of the policy. She explained that if not that the government was convinced about the gains of the policy and the fact that it would change a lot of things positively for the country, it would not have been taking the bashing at the level Nigerians had taken it and still be pressing ahead with it, insisting that it was the best thing to do for the people.