EMEFIELE, NGIGE TAKES STEP TO AVERT IMPENDING NLC STRIKE

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Chris Ngige, the minister of labor and employment, has taken action to stop the Nigeria Labour Congress’ next statewide strike, which is scheduled to start on Wednesday.

If the financial crunch, fuel shortage, and hike in electricity prices were not resolved, the labor union had threatened to launch a national strike.

Ngige called the NLC leadership and the management of the Central Bank of Nigeria to a meeting in his office on Monday to settle their issues in response to the NLC’s threat to go on strike.

The NLC’s 10-person delegation was led by Joe Ajaero, its president, and Emmanuel Ugboaja, its general secretary. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was joined by Kingsley Obiora (economic policy) and Ade Shonubi, two deputy governors. (Organised Private Sector)

In his opening remarks, Ngige denied the NLC’s claim that his ministry done nothing to address the situation.

Before leaving the country for a meeting of the Governing Board of the International Labor Organization, he said that after receiving the letter from the NLC, he transmitted it to the CBN Governor and instructed the Permanent Secretary, Trade Union Services, and Industrial Relations Department to follow up.

Emefiele claimed that after receiving the letter from the labor ministry, he phoned the head of the NLC to inform him of the actions taken to lessen the suffering of the general populace.

He claimed that after meeting with the NLC president, a significant amount of money was made available to the deposit money banks.

Ajaero asked the CBN to enhance their services and expressed sadness over the information void left by the naira redesign’s implementation.

He said, “The NLC could not have stopped CBN from taking good decisions and implementing them in the interest of the nation. If stakeholders were invited and briefed on the policy, when the people complain, NLC would explain everything to them. But in this case, the CBN did it alone. Moreover, it is a wrong time for administering such a national policy.”

He said the National Executive Committee of NLC will meet today to take a decision on the planned strike.