The Federal Government on Thursday disagreed with the organised Labour on its threat to declare a nationwide strike in the next 14 days over the alleged failure of the government to implement the memorandum of understanding reached with the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress in October 2023.
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, in an interview with The PUNCH, asked the unions to exercise restraint and allow the government to address their grievances.
He said, “We are calling on Labour to exercise patience. We will look at the grey area. Let them come and speak with us in the interest of our nation.
“We cannot afford to go on strike at this time. So we call on them and we are always to partner Labour for the progress and development of our country.”
Idris, however, declined to comment on whether the government would seek a court injunction to stop the strike.
After the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2023, the labour unions reached a 16-point agreement with the Federal Government on measures to cushion the pains of the subsidy removal on workers.
Among other things, the government agreed to pay N35,000 to all federal workers beginning from last September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.
The resolution provided that the wage award would be paid to the federal workers for six months while states were encouraged to extend the same benefit to their workers.
The Federal Government also pledged to provide 100 CNG buses nationwide to ease the high transportation costs.
The unions had threatened to declare a nationwide strike on October 3 but the move was suspended on the condition that the wage award, cash transfer, and some other resolutions must be implemented within 30 days effective from the day the MoU was signed.
However, the NLC and TUC in a joint statement on Thursday, accused the government of failing to fulfil its promises five months after the MoU was inked.
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