Nigeria Labour Congress President, Ayuba Wabba
Nigeria’s labour unions cave in to pressure, halt strike to ease Independence Day celebration
Organised labour unions in Nigeria have called off their four-day old warning strike on Sunday.
If the total strike, which was successful across the country, had persisted farther than Sunday, important processes and procedures at the country’s annual Independence Day celebration on Monday would have been affected adversely.
Discover Africa News learnt that the leaders of Nigeria’s labour unions were pressured by “powers that be” to suspend the strike in order to allow its members participate in the October 1st Independence Day celebration nationwide.
“Imagine what tomorrow’s (Monday, October 1st) Independence Day celebration would have looked like without the civil servants and other members of the NLC. It would have been so poor and in disarray. The Federal government knows this and they have to pressure the NLC to call off the strike”, an insider source said.
But the Union said it called off the strike because it has received a firm invitation to a negotiation meeting on Thursday and Friday, October 4th and 5th.
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“We have received a firm and formal invitation to a reconvened meeting of the tripartite committee scheduled for 4th and 5th of October, 2018.
“Organised Labour has, after obtaining the mandate of their necessary organs, decided to suspend the strike action with effect from today, Sunday September 30, 2018,” NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said.
“We urge all our unions and state councils to maintain a high level of mobilisation and readiness until the struggle for a reasonable minimum wage is achieved,” he stated.
The National Minimum Wage Committee was inaugurated November 2017 but commenced work March this year and drew timelines to deliver a new national minimum wage by August/ September.
The workers are demanding a new minimum wage of about N50,000 instead of the current national minimum wage of N18,000. Most state governors as well as proponents of true federalism have, however, argued that states should be allowed to set their own minimum wage especially as many states are barely able to pay the current N18,000 minimum wage.
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