By Emmanuel Nduka
The Nigerian government on Monday brought along armed soldiers to its negotiation table with Organized Labour, over the indefinite strike embarked upon that has crippled economic activities across the country.
Both the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday night, revealed that military troops had encircled the venue where labour leaders were holding a meeting with government officials.
But the Organized Labour said it would not cave to intimidation or blackmail.
“Soldiers are presently surrounding the venue of the meeting between labour and government at the premises of the SGF,” the NLC posted on X on Monday.
Reacting, the Nigerian Army denied NLC’s statement asserting that a “retinue” of military escorts attached to National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu — attending the meeting— were present.
“Once the meeting is over, the escorts will lead the NSA from the venue. Kindly disregard the deliberate and misleading falsehood being peddled about the presence of the escorts at the meeting,” the Nigerian Army said in response to NLC’s post on X.
Heritage Times HT had reported that top on the list of labour’s demand was the increment of the minimum wage from N30,000 to N494,000 to meet up with the current economic realities in the country.
The NLC, under the leadership of Joe Ajaero, declared an indefinite nationwide strike across all sectors including aviation which saw many passengers stranded as airport officials complied with the industrial action directive.
Also, financial institutions under the TUC, electricity distribution companies, and water corporations, participated in the strike forcing the nation’s economy to a halt, and compelling the attention of relevant stakeholders to convene an emergency meeting for further negotiations.
