NLC Strike: Nigerian govt appeals for two weeks to finalise demands

The NLC had said that it would embark on a two-day nationwide warning strike from 5 September to 6 September ByAgency Report September 4, 2023 Reading Time: 2 mins read The Federal Government has appealed for a period of two weeks to finalise organised labour’s demands. Simon Lalong said this while addressing journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday in Abuja. Mr Lalong said the meeting was called to avert the proposed nationwide warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). The NLC had said that it would embark on a two-day nationwide warning strike from 5 September to 6 September over the hardship faced by the masses due to the removal of fuel subsidy. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NLC were absent at the meeting called by the minister. The Federal Government had earlier appealed to NLC to suspend the proposed 2-day warning nationwide strike. Also, the TUC in a communique had said the need to embark on strike had not arisen but it would allow conversation with the government to address grey areas. According to Mr Lalong, the government was going to address those issues within the period of two weeks and come back for further discussion. Some of the issues we discussed are those that are very urgent. There are some that will require a long span of time. This was the basis of our discussion. “We agreed that there should be no strike within the two-week period while we are doing our deliberations and working towards realising some of these objectives,” he said. Also, Festus Osifo, the president of the TUC, said some of the issues requiring urgent attention included the implementation of palliatives and wage awards. He said others are tax exemptions and allowances to public sector workers; modalities for N70 billion Small and Medium Enterprises and RTEAN crisis. In the palliatives that were rolled out, we have not seen anything put in place for federal workers. “We need a wage award. The palliatives rolled out by the government are not far-reaching. We believe that the government can do much more,” he said. Mr Osifo also said that the TUC leadership would continue to engage with the federal government to ensure that its demands are addressed.