The NLC had on Friday, given notice of a two-day warning strike to protest the excruciating mass suffering and impoverishment experienced around the country, threatening a total and indefinite shutdown of the economy within 14 working days or 21 days after the warning strike, if government did not take steps to address the hardship experienced across the country.
While briefing on Friday after its NEC’s meeting, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said: “NEC in session of NLC resolved to embark on a total and indefinite shutdown of the nation within 14 working days or 21 days from today until steps are taken by the government to address the excruciating mass suffering and the impoverishment experienced around the country.”
Why NLC shunned meeting with FG
Though sources in the NLC leadership told Vanguard that the strike will go ahead, despite yesterday’s scheduled meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, it was gathered that a media briefing by the minister allegedly castigating labour leaders, ahead of the meeting, forced NLC leaders to shun the meeting that would have been held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Federal Secretariat.
The minister was said to have threatened the NLC leaders at his briefing, foreclosing any chance that NLC would honour the meeting.
One of the visibly angry NLC leaders told Vanguard that the minister’s alleged outburst a few hours before the scheduled meeting put the final nail to NLC’s resolve to proceed with the strike as resolved by members of its National Executive Council, NEC, last Friday.
His words: “We were scheduled to meet the Minister of Labour and Employment later today (yesterday), precisely by 3 pm but a few hours to the meeting, the minister called a media briefing where he castigated us and threatened us among other uncomplimentary words.
“Not that the meeting would have stopped the strike, but we intended to attend the meeting in the spirit of social dialogue. But as you are aware, the Minister of Labour, before the scheduled meeting, held a media briefing castigating and threatening us.
‘’You do not expect us to attend a meeting when we had been warned of a possible arrest
In fact, we thank the minister for putting us on notice of their plan. So, the right thing to do is to keep away from such meetings and avoid any possible arrest.
“What the minister had done was nothing short of industrial dictatorship and naked blackmail. The Federal Government had already taken decision on the proposed meeting, the minister was kind enough to hold a briefing ahead of the meeting to disclose part of the government’s decision.
‘’Well, like I said earlier, the strike goes ahead as planned. After Wednesday, we will determine what next steps to follow. The NEC’s communiqué was loud enough. We cannot continue as if we are living in a different country from our political leaders and their cronies.
‘’You cannot continue to beat us and say we should not cry. Everywhere you go in every part of the country; people are complaining of hardship and suffering without concrete efforts by government to lessen our pains. Instead, the government is unleashing more policies to send us to untimely death.”
from Vanguard
GOD Abeg oooo, take control 🙏
ReplyDeleteWe go just dey observe Sha!
NLC people came and chased us out of our offices today in Yenagoa. I was so pissed as I had so many things I needed to do. Had no choice but to go back home around 10 am. What will the weak strike yield? We are watching them.
Deletegood, the government should fix up
ReplyDelete"You do not expect us to attend a meeting when we had been warned of a possible arrest?"
ReplyDeleteSo the plan was to get them arrested? Nawaa oo.
I don't believe them at all, they are playing their part of the script.
DeleteNo one is arresting them, just a fake claim to make them look serious
Make una go sleep
ReplyDeleteIf I say what is on my mind Stella will not post it. Let me just respect my age. This country is a cruise nation. Daniel Wilson said in one of his songs that 'a rider can never ride a horse except the house allows the rider' One thing is sure..One day. Just one day. Thank God say God no be man
ReplyDeleteMy former governor, minister of labour🤣😂🤣can never disappoint.Lally baby u don cast abi?dis nation na cruise I tell u.may God help us.wen all offices are filled with failed governors dat have case of embezzlement and don't have decorum how him no go threaten NLC?munshiga uku!!
ReplyDeleteAh! Nigeria!
ReplyDeleteGod have mercy!
Many states cannot pay the current 30k and are owing pensions for years but the organized labor which makes up less than 7 percent of labor wants to shut Nigeria down. To achieve what exactly?
ReplyDeleteReducing income generated will only make it more impossible to pay labor more. If they actually want a raise, they had better show up at work tomorrow.
Different options of assuaging the suffering of Nigerians have been reeled out but labor is looking for special treatment. The CNG buses are not sitting in car lots waiting to be imported, they need to be ordered and assembled. Their colleagues have refused to fix the refineries and the earliest date given is in many months time. The corn distribution and 5bn per state has been disbursed by the FG and it's the governors that can answer questions on them. Crude Oil production has increased by about 40 percent since Tinubu came in and there is a dedicated plan on CNG infrastructure shared by Ngelale which will take at least a year to bring to fruition in the most developed of systems unlike ours so what exactly is this childish strike about?
Flooding the system with unearned cash will only add to the inflation we are battling with so how does it help? Wale Edun broke this down in simple English and Sanusi and Lamido have translated this into even simpler forms.
Labor should ask itself how many of it's members actually deserve to be formally employed in pensionable jobs. Many states are paying half or nothing and yet the workers are not quitting and productivity has not dropped, meaning that the staff were not up to much in the first place. Governors in the SE, Kogi, CR are paying a third or half and the so called workers are not taking their skills elsewhere because they know they are not employable.
It's time for telling hard truths and tightening belts in Nigeria. Nigeria does not have enough farmers. Many who should be on the fields, forming a human network that will feed the nation, gather information against bandits and breathe life into the hinterland are in the cities and it's surrounding slums living uneventful lives, shouting aluta.
Private international banks have let us know that Emefiele depleted the foreign reserves by collaterizing them from about 70 billion dollars during OBJ'S time to 3 billion now. China is no longer picking calls for loan. The developed world will only begrudgingly talk to us if we maintain these reforms. Everyone should prepare for the bumpy roade ahead and reinvent themselves. We did not get here in a day. It took good 50 plus years of eating, spending and living like there's no tomorrow to be this broke and bothered and it will take a process to get out of it.