Nigeria’s NEC, Sultan of Sokoto urge Labour unions to shelve proposed strike

*The National Economic Council and Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, Sultan of Sokoto, have appealed to the leadership of the Organised Labour to exercise patience with the Federal Government, and allow more time for dialogue with the stakeholders over their ‘indefinite’ industrial action scheduled to commence October 3, 2023

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The National Economic Council (NEC), in Nigeria, has appealed to the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to back down on their planned “indefinite” industrial action.

ConsumerConnect reports the leaders of NLC and TUC after separate meetings had announced their intention to activate an indefinite strike, effective from Tuesday, October 3, 2023.

The NLC and TUC have attributed the planned industrial action to reported hardships thar Nigerian consumers are experiencing following petrol subsidy removal in the West African country.

Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang made the appeal Thursday, September 28, 2023, while briefing State House Correspondents after the NEC meeting in the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, FCT.

Governor Mutfwang urged the leadership of the Organised Labour to exercise patience with the Federal Government, and allow more time for dialogue with the stakeholders.

The Plateau State Governor noted that the welfare of Nigerian workers would form part of the issues President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would address in his maiden Independence Day broadcast to Nigerians  Sunday, October 1, 2023.

Stop strike in the interest of masses: Sultan of Sokoto

Meanwhile, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), also has appealed to Labour unions to shelve the nationwide strike.

Abubakar, at a public lecture to mark Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary Friday, September 29, in Abuja, urged the workers to sheath their swords “in the interest of the masses,” report said.

The Sultan of Sokoto stressed the need for dialogue to find solutions to the issues “instead of embarking on a strike”.

He further stated: “I am an advocate of dialogue because strikes don’t solve problems; they make them worse.

“Our leaders must tighten their belt, the common man is suffering.”

Abubakar explained, “I don’t think this government will just decide to make life bad for the people.

“As leaders and elders, we will always call on stakeholders not to embark on journeys that will make life worse for the common man.

“I don’t think government can take it upon itself to make life unbearable for the common man, let’s give them chance and see what they can do.”

According to him, strike will add more problems to the existing economic situation.

“If people are on strike, there wouldn’t be electricity, water, hospital and transportation system.

”Please, let’s reach out to our brothers and sisters who are clamouring to go on strike. They should have a rethink,” Sultan appealed.

Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin, who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the occasion, also appealed to the unions to give government more time to address the issues.

Tinubu announced that the Federal Government is determined to address the socio-economic challenges facing Nigeria.

“I want to emphasise as well that this government is new and the government is doing all within its powers to make sure it brings succour to the entire people of this country,” stated the President.

He added: :The government has already gone ahead to provide N500 billion to states to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.”

Earlier, the Organised Labour Tuesday this week had directed the unions and urged their state chapters to mobilise for protests across the country next week.

That was after NLC had declared a two-day warning industrial action without the participation of its sister Labour union, TUC.

It was learnt the leaders of the two Labour unions had since resolved their differences that then made only NLC to embark on the two-day strike.

Kindly Share This Story