The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reportedly given the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to reverse all perceived anti-poor policies.
According to reports, this ultimatum is to reverse the recent hike in the pump price of petrol, or face an indefinite nationwide strike starting August 2.
Consequently, the NLC has directed all its affiliates and state councils to immediately begin mobilizing workers and other Nigerians, including civil society allies, for a long-lasting strike and mass protests should the government fail to meet its demands.
Vanguard reports that this was one of the decisions reached at the NLC’s Central Working Committee’s (CWC) meeting held Tuesday, July 25, at Abuja Labour House.
Though a court order that barred Congress from going on strike in June still stands.
But a report from The Punch confirms that the congress noted that it could not fold its arms while Nigerians continued to suffer the effects of subsidy removal, which has led to untold hardship.
DailyNews24 reports that the Tinubu administration dragged organized labor to court earlier in June to prevent a nationwide strike following the initial removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.
Though the government set up a committee to liaise with organized labor, officials of the Trade Union Congress and the NLC said the committee had failed to engage labor in a dialogue.
The national treasurer of the NLC, Hakeem Ambali, said, “Yes. We issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclude all negotiations with labor or face industrial action yesterday by the Central Working Committee.”
Earlier, an NLC official who spoke on Tuesday noted that the congress would meet on Tuesday and deliberate on the ways forward.
Failure by the government to meet the ultimatum would lead to a nationwide strike.
The national president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, has yet to issue an official statement on the matter.
Another national official noted that the public would be informed of other plans shortly.
