Samuel Adesola, Abuja
Barring any last minute change of mind and plans, workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress will down tools nationwide, literally shutting down the various sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Already, the leadership of the National Assembly and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, in a last ditch efforts, have intervened with a view to preventing the planned nationwide strike from commencing as scheduled on Monday.
But their intervention last night failed to achieve any result as both the NLC and TUC have insisted on going ahead with the commencement of the planned nationwide strike today.
Both the NLC and the TUC had last Friday declared an indefinite nationwide strike following a breakdown of negotiations with the Federal Government and the Organised Private Sector regarding the new minimum wage.
On Sunday, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, declared Labour’s planned nationwide strike as premature and illegal.
He warned that both NLC and TUC would be flouting the law and a subsisting court order if they should go ahead with Monday’s strike action.
The AGF further warned both unions of the legal implications and consequences of their planned nationwide strike.
If Labour makes good its threat to go ahead with the planned nationwide strike, economic activities across Nigeria will be shut down by 12 midnight on Sunday as workers in the banking, oil and gas, medical and health, electricity, aviation, judiciary and tertiary education sectors, among several others, will not be at their duty posts to render essential services as usual.
Already, the Organised Labour, which is demanding N494,000 as new national minimum wage, has fully mobilised its affiliate bodies and members across the country for the commencement of Monday’s strike action.
Specifically, workers in the various critical sectors, including aviation, electricity, oil and gas have been fully mobilised to join the strike action.
To this end, General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees, Ocheme Aba, confirmed his union’s participation in the strike.
According to him, “Definitely, we would be part of it (the strike) but exactly how it would happen, I cannot say. We’re meeting tomorrow (today), but definitely we would be part of it.”
Similarly, Deputy General Secretary of the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Francis Akinjole, said the association would meet on Sunday to decide on the appropriate action to take.
Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, in a statement, confirmed PENGASSAN’s commitment to totally comply with the directive.
Afolabi expressed the union’s concern, saying it was disturbed with the alleged insensitive attitude of the Federal Government “to the very critical issue of negotiating a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
“This is in view of the various socio- economic policies of this administration that have impoverished the working people of this country.
“Leaders of our great union at all levels, from the units, zones and branches, should immediately put all processes in place to ensure total compliance with this directive.”
PENGASSAN General Secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, also confirmed that the association will join the strike.
In the same vein, the Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, Dominic Igwebike, in a statement, said the union was mobilising its members for the strike.
He said aside the inconclusive negotiations on the minimum wage and electricity tariff hike, the apartheid categorisation of Nigeria’s electricity consumers into bands was another reason for the decision to embark on the strike.
“Given the above, all national, state, and chapter executives are requested to start the mobilisation of our members in total compliance with this directive to ensure the government does the right thing as stated above. The withdrawal of services becomes effective on Sunday, 2nd June by 12.00 midnight,” he said.
Meanwhile, the NLC and the TUC have continued to mobilise their members across the 36 states for the planned industrial action.
In Bauchi State, the acting NLC Chairman, Ibrahim Maikudi, while addressing journalists after the State Executive Council meeting of the body, said members were already being mobiliseed for the action.
“We have prepared for the modalities on how to implement the strike action coming up on Monday, Insha Allah,” he said.
In Plateau, NLC Chairman, Eugene Manji and his TUC counterpart, Kenneth Shammah, confirmed their members’ preparation for the strike.
Borno State NLC chairman, Yusuf Inuwa, said, “The Borno State NLC and TUC are ready for indefinite strike that will commence on Monday, Insha Allah, and then tomorrow (today), we’re having administrative council meeting of the two unions.”
Kano State Chairman of the NLC, Kabiru Ado, said, “We would be meeting by 4.00pm on Sunday (today) to finalise our preparation for the strike. We’re very loyal to the national executive and their directives would be carried out”.
NLC Chairman in Anambra State, Humphrey Nwafor, also confirmed that his members had been mobilised for the strike.
But the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, at a press conference on Saturday night pleaded with the NLC and the TUC to shelve the planned strike and return to the negotiation table in the interest of the nation.
Idris said the sum of N494,000 national minimum wage being sought by the labour would “cumulatively amount to the sum of N9.5 trillion bill to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“Indefinite strike action is not the solution. It will rather complicate the situation. Our appeal is that they should shelve that strike, rethink the strike; because it is not in the interest of Nigerians”, he stated.
The Minister said it is important for Nigerians to understand that while the government is desirous of ample remuneration for workers, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will not encourage any action that could lead to massive job losses.
“Whereas the labour is keen on the take-home pay of about 1.2 million workers, the federal government is concerned with the welfare of 200 million plus Nigerians. This is because, the federal government’s guiding principle is: affordability, sustainability and the overall health of the nation’s economy”, he said.
Idris appealed to all parties to embrace “reasonable and realistic dialogue” to ensure the proper resolution of the matter.
The minister noted that apart from the minimum wage, President Tinubu had floated 12 palliatives for Nigerians, including N125 billion Conditional Grant and Financial Inclusion to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); N100 billion for the procurement of CNG-fueled buses and CNG conversion kits; N25,000 each to be shared to 15 million households for three months and N185 billion palliatives (loans to states) to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal.
He listed other palliatives as N200 billion to support the cultivation of 500,000 hectares of land to boost food production; the release of 42,000 metric tons of grains from strategic reserves; the purchase and onward distribution of 60,000 metric tons of rice from rice millers and the recent salary increase of 25-35% on all consolidated salary structures for federal workers.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadri, has said the association could not meet the labour’s demand of N494,000.
Ajayi-Kadri said the government and the private sector faced significant constraints in fulfilling the proposed living wage request sequel to various factors associated with present economic challenges.
The MAN boss, who disclosed this on Channels TV programme, stressed that the private sector, for example, is dealing with inflation, and that this would make it impossible to pay such an amount, saying OPS has already accepted the government’s proposal of N60,000.
He said, “All of us in the tripartite – the government, the labour and the private sector – we all knew that we were operating in a very difficult environment. The government itself realized that it had limited capacity to pay.
“The private sector is constrained by microeconomic, infrastructure and security challenges. So, we are also constrained to pay.
“Incidentally, the organized private sector and government have offered N60,000 as the minimum wage and I think it is very important for us to understand that what we are talking about is the minimum wage. That is what some people have called the walk-in wage. That is the amount we will pay the least workers in the country. It’s the minimum wage we are negotiating, not a living wage.”
