FG Considers Options to Abort Labour Strike

The Federal Government has invited organised labour to a meeting in a last-minute bid to stop the planned October 3, 2023 nationwide strike announced by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC on Tuesday.

The two unions had declared an indefinite strike to protest the alleged failure of the FG to provide post-subsidy palliatives for workers, but the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity assured Nigerians it would meet with the leadership of the unions before they shut down the economy.

The spokesperson for the labour ministry, Olajide Oshundun, said the meeting scheduled for Tuesday, would be centred on the pronouncements to be made by President Bola Tinubu during his October 1 Independence Day broadcast.

Tinubu is expected to unveil the palliative package for workers in the customary presidential speech to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day.

The spokesman noted that the Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Simon Lalong, had met one of the NLC’s demands which was the release of the factional National President of the National Association of Road Transport Workers, Tajudeen Baruwa, from police custody.

Baruwa and 21 others, including three national officers of the union, had been detained by the police for alleged criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, public disturbance, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.