Again NLC vows to shut down Nigeria’s economy indefinitely next week

Again NLC vows to shut down economy indefinitely next week  

The Nigeria Labour Congress says it will embark on an indefinite strike next week as a follow-up to the two-day warning strike embarked upon last week.

It said the impending strike would be total as it planned to shut down the nation’s economy unless the government got serious with its palliative measures being rolled out after the removal of fuel subsidy.

It accused the government of failing to provide significant palliatives to assuage the hardships being faced by Nigerians as a result of the fuel subsidy removal.

National Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Mr Christopher Onyeka, spoke on the fresh nationwide strike in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday.

He said the FG was wrong to share a bag of rice to a dozen citizens while reportedly giving N100m palliative to each member of the National Assembly.

The newspaper quoted Onyeka as saying, “We sent the letter to the Federal Government on September 1, 2023; so by September 22, 2023, the 21-day ultimatum will end.

“We have made it clear that the Federal Government has abandoned and absconded from the table for negotiation; that government is no longer negotiating with Nigerians and there is no good faith negotiation that is going on.

“President Bola Tinubu promised Nigerians on his own on the television with the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, that he was going to restructure the committees. But he did not do that. And since then the committees have not met and there has been no negotiation that is ongoing. As it is, the NLC is not negotiating with the government.”

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress are asking for a minimum wage increase; implementation of palliatives; tax exemptions and allowances to the public sector workers.