Labour Shows Strength In Suspended NLC Strike

In keeping with the promise of the Nigeria Labour Congress to revisit the issues which stoked their initial suspended strike, the Nigeria Labour Congress led by Joe Ajaero embarked on a nationwide strike that literally crippled the Nigerian economy.
Though the strike was called off on Wednesday night, the impact of it was widely felt as banks, government offices, oil installations and schools were shut down during the period.
It would be recalled that the NLC had engaged the Federal Government in long drawn negotiations, basically with the intent to extract firm promises from the Tinubu led administration, especially in view of the all-pervasive suffering unleashed on Nigerians as a result of the removal of the fuel subsidy from May, 2023.
In a face saving measure at the time, the federal government amongst other issues committed to getting Nigeria’s moribund refineries working again, wage awards of N35,000 to civil servants for six months, injecting funds in medium, micro and small scale enterprises, paying N8,000 to 12 million families for six months, general palliatives including distribution of rice to state and local governments besides promising to increase the National minimum wage of workers in Nigeria, currently pegged at N30,000. Over a month after the signed agreement, the federal government failed to honour its commitment to the agreement.
To make matters worse, the president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero was brutalized and beaten to a pulp by agents of the state allegedly loyal to Governor Hope Uzodinma when he went to Imo State to settle matters related to Labour issues.
When the notice of strike got to the state chairmen of the affiliates of the NLC, they promptly mobilized their members to join the strike.
As of Wednesday in Port Harcourt, banks and schools were shut either to express solidarity with the NLC or to prevent vandalism. The airports were operating skeletally and the roads were deserted mostly.
Our reporters confirmed that hordes of school children were sent home to avoid the backlash from unionists who might be on the prowl.
Our roving reporter also sighted many teachers who had reported for work in their schools, moving quickly out of the school to comply with the directives of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, NUT and also to avoid the aggression of unionists who were going round the Secretariat.
At the Rivers State Secretariat, all the two major gates were locked. A unionist who pleaded anonymity said, “This is a nationwide strike, an injury to one is an injury to all. Rivers State being an affiliate body ensured total compliance which also percolated to the secretariat of the Port Harcourt Local Government Council.”
Labour leaders also visited the Port Harcourt Refining Company complex at Alesa, Eleme where they sealed off the complex and stopped the ongoing rehabilitation of the plants, programmed to resume operation in December.