Labour leaders had a successful meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume, and other government officials on Monday and reached a resolution that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was committed to a new minimum wage higher than N60,000.

They equally resolved that the Tripartite Committee would meet every day for the next one week with a view to arriving at an agreeable National Minimum Wage.

Today at a meeting with FG Tripartite Committee scheduled by 10am, Labour suspended its strike.

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The nationwide strike has become necessary due to the tripartite committee’s inability to agree on a new minimum wage and hike in electricity tariff.

The President of the TUC Festus Osifo announced the strike at a joint news conference with the leadership of the NLC in Abuja on Friday.

According to the labour leaders, the decision follows the expiration of an earlier request to the Federal Government to conclude all negotiations for a new minimum wage before the end of May.

“In light of this persistent inaction, we, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), hereby issue a notice of commencement of an indefinite nationwide strike to the Federal Government,” Osifo said.

“We reiterate that since the National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise has not been concluded and the agreed wage passed into law; the hike in electricity tariff has not been reversed and the categorization of consumers into Bands has not stopped as demanded; Nigerian workers are compelled by these failures to embark on an indefinite nationwide industrial action beginning on Monday, the 3rd of June, 2024 to press home our demands.”

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Therouse is the non-implementation of the 16-point agreement between organised labour (NLC and TUC) and the Federal Government on October 2, 2023.

Leaders of the NLC and TUC are sad that, despite organised labour’s efforts to ensure industrial peace, the government seems unperturbed by the mass suffering and hardship across the country.

The October 2 agreement was “focused on addressing the massive suffering and the general harsh socioeconomic consequences of the ill-conceived and ill-executed IMF/World Bank-induced hike in the price of PMS and the devaluation of the naira. These dual policies have had, as we predicted, dire economic consequences for the masses and workers of Nigeria.”

NLC and TUC, in a statement, lamented that “it is regrettable that we are compelled to resort to such measures, but the persistent neglect of the welfare of citizens and Nigerian workers and the massive hardship leave us with no choice.”

NLC and TUC called on the Federal Government to honour their part of the understanding within 14 days from 9th day of February 2024.

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The decision was reached at a meeting on Wednesday that deliberated on the outcome of an earlier interface with the Federal Government led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

The TUC President, Festus Osifo, has confirmed the suspension.

The NSA promised to bring both parties back to the table to iron out all issues in dispute, tendering an unreserved apology on behalf of the Federal Government for the brutalisation Ajaero and other members of the congress.

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The letter which was signed by ASUU’s National Pesident, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, was issued on Monday night.

The letter read, “The Nigeria Labour Congress at a Joint National Executive Council of NLC and TUC directed all affiliate unions to commence withdrawal of services with effect from 12 midnight today November 13, 2023.

“As an affiliate of NLC, all members of our union are hereby directed to join this action of NLC to protect the interest of Nigerian workers and the leadership of the union.

“Zonal coordinators and branch chairpersons should immediately mobilise our members to participate in the action. A people united, cannot be defeated.”

The strike is to protest the battering of the NLC President, Joe Ajaero and some other executives of the congress in Owerri, Imo State on November 1, as well of the pending labour issues in Imo State.

Ajaero was arrested by the police ahead of a state-wide protest in Imo as disclosed by the NLC’s Head of Information, Benson Upah.

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Special Assistant Communication & Publicity to the Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Kamarudeen Ogundele, in statement on Monday night.

“We wish to remind the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress that there is a subsisting court order stopping the unions and their affiliates from embarking on the strike.

“The interim order was granted on November 10 by the President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Justice B. B. Kanyip.

“The unions have been served the court order and, therefore, must surrender themselves to the authority of the court which is already seized with the facts of the case.

“Any action taken contrary to the order will be tantamount to contempt of court.

“We use this medium to urge the unions to respect the court order and adhere to the principle of the rule of law. There is no need to resort to self-help.

“We urge workers to report for duties and not to entertain any fear as their safety is guaranteed and will be protected within the ambit of law.

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Special Adviser to the President on Information & Strategy, Bayo Onanuga in a statement hours after the union bodies declared strike on Monday night said the action is a move to blackmail the government.

“We are still at a loss as to the reason the NLC and TUC decided to punish a whole country of over 200million people over a personal matter involving the NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero whose error of judgment led to the assault on him in Owerri while he was planning to incite the workers in Imo State into a needless strike.

“While the Federal government does not condone any form of violence and assault on any citizen of Nigeria regardless of social and economic status, it is on record that the Inspector General of Police has ordered investigation into what happened to Mr. Ajaero while the Commissioner of Police in Imo State under whose watch the incident happened has been transferred out of the state.

“Calling out workers on a national strike over a personal issue of a labour leader despite a clear court order against any industrial action amounts to an abuse of privilege. Power at any level should never be used to settle personal scores. Rather it should be used to promote collective progress and advance national interest.

“Our national economy and social activities should not suffer because of the personal interest of any labour leader.

“This flagrant disobedience to court order and lack of respect to the judiciary should not be what the organised Labour should champion.

“The labour movement has always been a champion of rule of law and respect for the judiciary. It is a sad irony that the current labour leaders have shown disdain and utter disregard for court order.

“We reiterate that this strike action is illegal, immoral, unjustifiable and irresponsible. With the strike notice issued Monday night after official hours suggests it was designed for a sinister and hidden agenda to cause undue hardship and cause civil disturbance in our country.

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The unions said the action is coming due to the government’s insensitivity to the recent brutalization of NLC President Joe Ajaero.

Labour’s position was made known at a press briefing on Monday in Abuja by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) President, Engr. Festus Usifo, said that the declaration of the strike was because the government had failed to meet the unions’ demands regarding the manhandling of Ajaero.

According to him, part of the labour unions’ demands included that those who brutalized the NLC President should be arrested and prosecuted. He particularly said that the Area Commander who led the action should be relieved of his job and prosecuted.

He said: ”We, the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC); if you could recall a while ago, we gave some conditions that we want the government to meet regarding the brutalization of the NLC President.

“So, we set forth some conditions and those conditions were very very clear without ambiguity whatsoever. We said those people that brutalized our president must be arrested and prosecuted. We also stated as well, that the Area Commander who led the police to carry out the brutalization should be relieved of his duty and prosecuted. Then, (the chap, name withheld) who everybody knew that led the thugs should also be arrested and prosecuted. So, the list went on and on, and on, gentlemen of the press I think we have the list of our demands.

“We gave an ultimatum that initially expired Wednesday last week. But on the eve of that expiration, we had a joint session of the NLC and the TUC. We looked at it and we thought that in responding to the petition we should give an additional one week, let’s see if the government will be responsive.

In order to further draw the attention of the government, we had a joint session last week Tuesday but instead of government to come strongly condemning this criminality, instead of government to speak and standing on the side of justice and the side of truth, some people in government were running their mouths and making all kinds of statements, so the two labour centres have resolved to stand strongly by the petition of the joint NEC that was held last week Tuesday. Effective 00: 01hour of the 14th of November we shall declare a nationwide strike.

“So effective tomorrow or mid-night today, that strike is going to commence and all affiliates of the NLC, all state councils of the two centres have been mobilized adequately, and this is going to be indefinite until government at all levels wake up to their responsibilities. This is the decision of the joint NEC of the NLC and the TUC, and we are going to carry it out to the latter.”

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This was contained in a memorandum of understanding signed Monday by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja; as well as the TUC President, Festus Osifo, and Secretary General, Nuhu Toro.

The three-page document was also signed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong; Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; and Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.

Read the full text below:

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING REACHED BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA AND THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC) AND TRADE UNION CONGRESS OF NIGERIA (TUC) AS A RESULT OF DISPUTE ARISING FROM WITHDRAWAL OF SUBSIDY ON THE PRICE OF PREMIUM MOTOR SPIRIT (PMS) ON MONDAY, THE 2ND DAY OF OCTOBER, 2023

Arising from the withdrawal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government and the resultant increase in the price of the commodity, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) issued a strike notice which had elapsed and they were poised to embark on a strike billed to commence on Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023.

Consequently, a meeting was called by the Federal Government to avert the strike and after much discussion, the following agreements were reached:

1. The Federal Government grants a wage award of N35,000 (thirty-five thousand Naira) only to all Federal Government workers beginning from the month of September pending when a new national minimum wage is expected to have been signed into law.

2. A minimum wage committee shall be inaugurated within one month from the date of this agreement.

3. Federal Government suspends collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) on Diesel for six months beginning from October, 2023.

4. Federal Government accepts to vote N100 billion for the provision of high capacity CNG buses for mass transit in Nigeria. Provisions are also being made for initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide. The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide.

5. The Federal Government plans to implement various tax incentive measures for private sector and the general public.

6. On the leadership crises rocking the NURTW and the purported proscription of RTEAN, the Federal Government commits to handling Labour matters in line with relevant ILO Conventions and Nigerian Labour Acts. A resolution of the ongoing impasse is expected by or before October 13.

7. The issue of outstanding Salaries and Wages of Tertiary Education workers in Federal-owned educational institutions is being referred to Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.

8. The Federal Government commits to pay N25,000 per month for three months starting from October, 2023 to 15 million households, including vulnerable pensioners.

9. The Federal Government will increase its initiatives on subsidized distribution of fertilizers to farmers across the country.

10. The Federal Government should urge State Government through the National Economic Council and Governors Forum to implement wage award for their workers. Similar consideration should also be given to local government and private sector workers.

11. The Federal Government commits to the provision of funds as announced by the President on the 1st of August broadcast to the Nation for Micro and Small Scale Enterprises. The MSMEs beneficiaries should commit to the principle of decent jobs.

12. A joint visitation will be made to the refineries to ascertain their rehabilitation status.

13. All parties commit to henceforth abide by the dictates of Social dialogue in all our future engagements.

14. The NLC and TUC accept to suspend for 30 days the planned Indefinite Nationwide strike scheduled to begin, Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023.

15. This Memorandum shall be filed with the relevant Court of competent jurisdiction within one (1) week as consent judgment by the Federal Government.

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NLC and TUC had called for the indefinite strike following the removal of fuel subsidy.

It would be recalled that the Nigeria Labour Congress also directed its affiliate member Unions across the country to mobilise and shut down the country following the refusal of government to adhere to the seven points demand made by the NLC and the TUC to ameliorate the suffering of the teeming Nigerian Workers and the impoverished masses of the country.

The President-General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Comrade (Prince) Dr. Adewale Adeyanju fnli HFCPSP, in the same vein equally ordered that all the nation’s Seaports, Jetties, Oil & Gas platforms and Terminals be shut down accordingly for operations.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, the outcome of emergency meeting summoned today, October 2, 2023, between the federal government and labour leaders was held, the NLC and TUC had jointly agreed to suspend the strike to allow for implementation of the NLC demands.

“Consequently, the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NLC had directed that all its affiliate members should direct their members to return to work tomorrow, October 3, 2023 as the planned indefinite strike has been suspended.

Comrade Adeyanju, the Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress had equally directed that all members of the Maritime sector should resume work tomorrow as instructed by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

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