FG Appeals To Nigerian Labour Congress To Shelve Planned Strike

The Federal government has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress to shelve its planned nationwide two-day warning strike scheduled to start on Tuesday.

Labour and Employment Minister, Simon Lalong, says government is determined to strengthen the nation’s economy and end the hardships being faced by the people.

In the last seventy-two hours, the Nigeria Labour Congress has been mobilising its affiliate unions and Civil society allies for its planned warning strike.

This was after the Congress declared its resolve to embark on a 2-day warning strike at the end of its National Executive Council meeting last Friday.

The action is to protest government’s seeming inability to respond to the challenges posed by the fuel subsidy removal, among other issues.

The Congress says the warning strike is a prelude to a complete shut down of the economy in 21 days should the situation remains.

This news conference by the Minister of Labour and Employment is to address the issues raised by the NLC and efforts by the Tinubu administration thus far on them.

Simon Lalong seeks the understanding of Nigerians as government takes difficult but necessary steps to redress errors of the past.

First, he says he has yet to receive a notice of the warning strike from the NLC in line with stipulated regulations and laws.

Nevertheless, the Minister says the Tinubu administration has taken steps to cushion the impact of the removal of fuel subsidy, and this is now being implemented by the three tiers of
government.

He is optimistic this will trickle down in a matter of days

He highlights some of the steps taken by the Government to include:

1. Dispatch of trucks of Rice and Grains to states by FG for onward distribution to those in need.
2. Disbursement of N5 billion to states as palliative
3. Purchase of CNG powered buses
4. Implementation of policy for conversion of petrol cars to gas
5. Review of Minimum wage

The Minister assures NLC of his readiness to wade into the NURTW face-off, the crisis between workers in Imo and Abia states as well as the crisis rocking the Aviation sector.