Subsidy Removal: Labour Congress Insists On Strike; Skips Meeting With Minister

Federal Minister of Labour and Employment of Nigeria, Simon Bako Lalong, planned a meeting on Monday to appeal to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to suspend the strike. However, NLC did not attend the meeting and insisted on carrying on with a two-day strike across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The strike was announced on Sept. 1 due to hardships Nigerians are facing following subsidy removal.

Many unions had expressed their interest in participating in the strike including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), non-teaching staff of universities, National Union of Banks, and Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE).

The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) also expressed their readiness to be a part of this nationwide strike.

Considering the meeting held on Monday, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), represented by its President, Festus Osifo, and other national officers of the union were in attendance. During the meeting, TUC and Minister Lalong asked the unions to give two weeks' time to the government to fulfill workers' demands.

"We all agreed that there would be no strike within this two-week period while we are doing our deliberations and, therefore, working towards realizing some of these objectives. This was our discussion," the minister said following the meeting, ThisDayLive reported.

NUBIFIE, on the other hand, issued a notice saying that all banks will remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to NLC's two-day strike.

"The directives are imperative to get the needed attention of the government and to warn it against interfering in the internal affairs of unions instead of addressing the punishing economic circumstances we find ourselves in," the notice mentioned, Punch reported.

The Senior Deputy General Secretary of NUBIFIE, Aboderin Olusola explained that it was "NLC's directive to all the industrial unions and NUBIFIE didn't have any option than to issue that circular to all our members and management of banks and insurance companies in Nigeria."

The President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), also directed all its affiliates to follow the two-day nationwide strike, adding that this decision has been made due to the government's refusal to engage and reach an agreement with the organized labor on critical issues.

He explained how organized labor is dealing with "the consequences of the unfortunate hike in the price of petrol, which has unleashed massive suffering on Nigerian workers and the generality of the Nigerian citizens."

He added, "The MWUN as an affiliate of the NLC, is obliged to comply with the directive and has consequently instructed all our members in all ports, jetties, terminals, and oil and gas platforms nationwide to partake in the two days total shut down warning strike as directed by the NLC."

On the same day when the strike was announced, the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu acknowledged the hardship of Nigerians and assured them that with "patience and determination" the country will succeed.

President Tinubu announced subsidy removal on May 29 and since then, fuel prices skyrocketed. Aside from fuel costs, food costs also increased, causing incidents like the looting of the government warehouses by the youth.