Speaker Tajudeen Abbas begs union leaders to end planned strike, says it will bleed Nigeria’s economy
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to suspend their proposed nationwide strike over the failure of the Federal Government to meet their demands.
The speaker said this on Tuesday in his speech at the resumption of plenary after the eight-week break.
Recall that labour unions have on Tuesday declared a nationwide strike starting from October 3rd, 2023, to press for their series of demands from the Federal Government.
The NLC and TUC are demanding for increased salaries and palliative among other demands to cushion the effects of the sudden rise in the prices of goods and services across the country due to the suspension of payment of subsidy on petrol by the Nigerian government.
Speaking on the planned strike, Mr Abbas stated that the industrial action will exacerbate the country’s economic woes, and while appealling to the leadership of the labour unions to be patient with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration.
He told the NLC that the House will act as a go-between for them and the federal government in order to expedite an agreement.
“It is in our considered opinion that embarking on a nationwide strike at this point will only aggravate an already bad situation. I therefore urge the leadership of Labour Unions to give us the benefit of the doubt and suspend any planned strike action while we engage the executive,” he said.
The Speakers further promised that the House will support the executive in passing “survival wage” as minimum wage.
“As promised earlier, this House remains committed to getting a survival wage to all Nigerian workers. The 10th House had assured Nigerians that we would be interfacing between the organised labour and the government to quickly work out a realistic new national minimum wage,” he said.
