Hardship: FG, NLC Meeting Ends In Deadlock

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, February 14th, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – A meeting between the Federal Government and organised Labour to shelve the planned strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress ended in deadlocked on Monday night.

The Minister of State Labour and Employment, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, hosted the meeting in Abuja but it couldn’t sway the unions to shelve the planned strike scheduled for February 23.

Also, the Association of Master Bakers and Caterers of Nigeria have decided to down their tools come February 27, 2024, if the Federal Government did not implement the agreement it signed with the association in 2020.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, speaking with the Punch begged the unions saying, “We are optimistic Labour will see reason and strike will be averted in the interest of the nation”.

In a statement signed by the leaders of the two labour unions, Joe Ajaero and Festus Usifo, the organised Labour lamented that despite the passage of the bill, “The majority of these crucial agreements remain unmet or negligibly addressed, indicating a blatant disregard for the principles of good faith, welfare and rights of Nigerian workers and Nigerians”.

The unions also stated that irrespective of their efforts to make sure that there is industrial peace, the government seemed unconcerned by the mass suffering and hardship across the country.

Also, the NLC Vice President, Hakeem Ambali, in an interview with The Punch, stated that the strike would go on except the Federal Government addressed “the untold hardship meted on Nigerians by the famous pronunciation that ‘subsidy is gone’ on 29 May”.

He also disclosed that the Federal Government is yet to fulfil its part of the agreement with the labour movement.

“The two-week ultimatum stands except the government does the needful and addresses the untold hardship meted on Nigerians by the famous pronunciation that ‘subsidy is gone’ on 29 May.

“We can see pockets of protests across the country. These are very dangerous. So, Labour must rise and offer leadership; Our ultimatum is patriotic,’’ he said.