Nigeria workers unions under the umbrella body of Trade Union Congress, TUC and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC has issued another statement on Tuesday morning indicating that the organised union has not called off strike it embarked on Monday to protest and demand the Federal Government of Nigeria to honour their request of ₦494,000 minimum wage to be received by the least paid workers in the country following the government increased in electricity tariffs and the current extreme rising high cost of living in the country.

But information gathered indicated that the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has resolved to relax the nationwide strike after the outcome of the convened joint extraordinary National Executive Council in Abuja.

NLC in a tweet on Tuesday morning, stated that: “Until we hear  from Our Organs at our Meeting scheduled for today 4th June , We are still on Strike”.

NLC had raised alarm of attempted intimidation by soldiers while the workers unions were having an emergency meeting at the Secreatary to Governement of Federation office on Monday night. NLC had tweeted thus: “Soldiers are Presently surrounding the venue of the meeting between Labour and Government at the premises of the SGF”.

In a swift reaction, Nigerian Army authority refuted the claims made by the NLC and stated in quote thus: “The attention of Army Headquarters has been drawn to a false breaking news by NLC alleging that soldiers currently surround the venue of the ongoing meeting between NLC and the SGF.

Kindly note that the NSA, Mallam  Nuhu Ribadu, who is also attending the meeting, arrived at the meeting venue with his retinue of statutorily approved military escorts. Once the meeting is over, the escorts will lead the NSA from the venue .

Kindly disregard the deliberate and misleading falsehood being peddled about the presence of the escorts at the meeting”.

After meeting at the SGF office, the NLC issued a jointly signed agreement document both from the representatives of the Federa government and the organized labour, indicating they have reached an agreement and they may call off the strike action after Tuesday meeting.

“Further to the negotiation by the Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage (NMW) and subsequent withdrawal of Labour from negotiation, the Leadership of the National Assembly intervened on 2nd June, 2024. The Organised Labour declared nationwide strike on Monday, 3rd June, 2024 to drive home its demands.

2. The Federal Government, in the National interest, convened a meeting with Labour held in the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, on Monday 3rd June, with a view to ending the strike action.

3. After exhaustive deliberation and engagement by both parties, the following resolutions were reached:

1. The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria is committed to a National Minimum Wage that is higher than ₦60,000;

II. Arising from the above, the Tripartite Committee is to meet everyday for the next one week with a view to arriving at an agreeable National Minimum Wage;

III. Labour in deference to the high esteem of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria’s commitment in (ii) above undertakes to convene a meeting of its organs immediately to consider this commitment; and

IV. No worker would be victimized as a result of the industrial action.

Done in Abuja on the 3rd of June, 2024. Signed For the Federal Government of Nigeria: 1. Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation
2. Honourable Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment

For the Organised Labour: 1. Joe Ajaero
President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). 2. Festus Osifo, President, Trade Union Congress (TUC)”, the signed document made available by NLC reads in quote.

It was observed that on Monday, almost all the economic activities in Nigeria were paralysed as the workers unions began the indefinite strike action over the new minimum wage demand.

First, Labour leaders on Monday while enforcing the ongoing strike by NLC and TUC, confronted CSP Oluyinka Egbeye, Commander, Rapid Response Squad, RRS, over the locking of gates at Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa.

The Federal Government had appealed to the organised labour to shelve its planned industrial action and return to the negotiating table.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had also on Friday declared an indefinite strike beginning from Monday over the hike in electricity tariff and the inability of a tripartite committee on new minimum wage to reach a consensus.

On Saturday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris urged labour to weigh its move and consider the financial implications of its ₦494,000 new minimum wage demand on the government.

Early on Monday, photography images made available online indicated that members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN), an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC laid siege to the entrance and exit of the National Assembly where Nigeria lawmakers hold congress.

Also, members of the NLC and TUC in Edo State locked up the State Secretariat, shutting out civil servants from the complex in compliance with the unions’ nationwide indefinite strike directive.

The unions say even though the state government recently increased the minimum wage to ₦70,000, they had to comply with the national body’s directive, maintaining that the strike is not targeted at the state.

Before Monday strike action began, the Leadership of the National Assembly held a meeting with the organised labour as part of efforts to avert the planned nationwide strike.

President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio who is presiding over the meeting urges labor to show understanding assuring that the National Assembly will do all it can to see that a compromise is arrived at.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas was also in attendance.
Also at the meeting held behind closed doors were ministers of key ministries, the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, and that of TUC Festus Osifo.

On Monday, Students of the Kaduna Polytechnic were locked out of their campus by labour officials in compliance with the nationwide indefinite strike declared by the NLC/ TUC.

Local media reports indicated that as early as 7am, union officials stormed the Unguwan Rimi Campus of the Polytechnic and drove the students out of the school before locking the gate.

Photographs posted online showed passengers stranded as the workers  minimum wage strike paralysed domestic flights in some airports across the country.

Hundreds of passengers were reportedly left stranded at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

Facebook user, Aniekeme Finbarr through his page expressed worries and asked a question thus: “The timing of this strike is very critical. If NLC Strike Extends Till Wednesday, how will South Africa get to Uyo?

NLC says restrictions on international flights at the various international airports in Nigeria will start tomorrow.

What are the options? Will the Bafafana Bafana use Uruan airways, a special technology to fly undetected. Or will South Africa land in Cameroon and use boats via SeaExpress. Or better still, they land in Benin Republic and use bus. NLC has the balls of the whole system in their hands. Every minute counts”.

Punch Newspaper captured the Monday Nationwide strike action in a manner partly presented verbatim below:

“Some patients at the Kubwa General Hospital, Abuja have been left stranded as medical personnel have declined to attend to them in keeping with the ongoing strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress commenced an industrial action on Monday, to protest the ₦60,000 minimum wage proposal by the Federal Government.

Although the gates of the hospital were opened, a worker at the Radiology Unit was heard informing patients who came for scans that the hospital would not be attending to patients as a result of the strike.

“We are not attending to patients today, because of the strike”, she told the patients.

A patient at the Pharmacy unit of the Accident and Emergency Wards, who did not give her name, lamented that she had made payments, but was declined the medication, and a refund of her money, as the unit had closed because of the strike.

She said, “They collected money and refused to give us the drugs. Even the medicine too. If they knew they won’t attend to anyone because of the strike, why did they open?”

While the Post-Natal ward and Laboratory Units seemed to be operating, our correspondent gathered that the hospital staff were attempting to attend to as many patients as possible before the Labour leaders would arrive to enforce the strike.

Nigerian workers in Abuja have shut down the Federal Secretariat in compliance with an indefinite strike action declared by NLC/TUC over new minimum wage, on Monday.

Recall that the labour unions called for a nationwide strike over the breakdown in the minimum wage negotiations by a tripartite committee constituted by the Federal Government in January.

The leadership of the labour unions had, on May 1, given the Federal Government up till May 31 to complete negotiations on the new minimum wage, failure of which they might not be able to guarantee industrial peace in the country.

The Parliamentary Staff Union of Nigeria joined the indefinite strike action called by Organised Labour, shutting down the National Assembly.

The two gates of the Assembly complex were shut by the union with workers and other visitors unable to gain access.

The electricity and water supply to the two buildings housing the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as other facilities in the complex have been shut down by the union.

The move is in solidarity with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), who had earlier called for an indefinite strike beginning from Sunday Midnight to press home their demands.

These demands border on the non-conclusion of negotiation for a National Minimum Wage and the hike in electricity tariff.

Also, BBC in its report stated that: “This is the fourth national strike since Bola Tinubu became president last year. Millions of Nigerians are without electricity after the national grid was shut down as part of a general strike over the rising cost of living.

The country was plunged into darkness shortly after 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) when union members prevented operators at the country’s power control rooms from working and shut down electricity substations. Many flights have also been cancelled in the country’s busiest airport in Lagos, and in the capital, Abuja, with passengers left stranded.

Unions are demanding a huge increase in the minimum wage, saying workers cannot survive on the current rate of 30,000 naira (£18; $22) a month. The government is offering to double this but security guard Mallam Magaji Garba tells the BBC that this would not even be enough to buy a 50kg bag of rice, which he needs to feed his family each month. The bag of rice costs 75,000 naira ($56; £44) – more than the government’s proposal, even before taking other expenses into account.

“I am calling on the government to consider us and increase the minimum wage so that we can live and eat decently,” says Mr Magaji, who works for the education ministry in the northern city of Kano. “It’s not fair that we have top government officials earning millions monthly and the smallest workers earn so little and finding it difficult to feed.” The 59-year-old said he sometimes has to walk to work as he cannot afford to pay for transport.

Why Nigeria’s economy is in such a mess,
Nigeria’s unions under the umbrella of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress are demanding the minimum wage be increased to 494,000 naira (£290; $369) which they say reflects the current economic realities.

The government says accepting these demands would cripple the economy and lead to job losses because many businesses would not be able to pay their workers and so have to close.

Magaji Garba said he sometimes walks to work as he can’t afford to pay for transport.

Schools, offices and hospitals across the country have also been closed.
This strike is the fourth since President Bola Tinubu came to office last year.
Since then, Nigerians have been hit by a double whammy of the removal of a fuel subsidy and a collapse in the value of the naira, leading to the worst economic crisis in a generation.

The government has ended the policy of pegging the value of the naira to the US dollar, allowing it to dramatically depreciate. Whereas 10,000 naira would have bought $22 last May, it will now only purchase $6.80. Mr Tinubu says the measures are necessary to reform the economy so it works better in the long term but in the short term, inflation has risen to nearly 34% and wages have not kept up.

Businesses, airports, universities, hospitals and power supply were affected as Labour began an indefinite strike on Monday over Labour’s demand for a new minimum wage.

Both NLC and TUC said the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer cater to the well-being of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet the contemporary economic demands of workers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the workers’ demands are not affordable.

The minister, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme said, “It is difficult because the worker deserves his wage, and given what is going on, they deserve a change and, by law, every five years, and maybe, we shouldn’t have to wait five years every time to set a new wage scale. The fact is that by law, it is a minimum wage.

“So, you are not setting a wage for Federal Government workers, for example. In a Federation, you are setting a minimum figure that states must pay, that local governments must pay, that the private sector must pay, that small businesses must pay.

“It is a fixed figure, not a scale. So, there are elements of how we have set the minimum wage in the past, particularly what we called the consequential adjustment, which, given what Labour is asking today, will be unaffordable across the board.

“We have to focus on the fact that once it is enshrined in law, everybody that falls into the category of having to pay the minimum wage must pay it. Therefore, the affordability has to be taken into account.

“We probably have to also take into account the fact that there are other ways of supporting the cost of living of workers other than wage scale”, BBC report ends in quote.