Ngige, Emefiele meet NLC over planned strike
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has taken measures to avert Wednesday’s scheduled nationwide strike of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
The labour union had threatened to embark on the nationwide industrial action, if the cash crunch, fuel scarcity and electricity tariff increase were not addressed.
On Monday, in response to the NLC’s strike threat, Ngige invited the NLC’s leadership and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s management to his office to resolve their differences.
The 10-man delegation of the NLC was led by its President, Joe Ajaero, and the General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, while the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was accompanied by two Deputy Governors, Kingsley Obiora (Economic Policy) and Ade Shonubi (Organised Private Sector).
Making his opening remarks, Ngige refuted the allegation by the NLC that his mnistry did nothing about the matter.
He stated that, upon receiving the letter from the NLC, he forwarded it to the CBN Governor before leaving the country for a meeting of the Governing Board of the International Labour Organization and instructed the Permanent Secretary and Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations Department to follow up.
Emefiele stated that when he received the letter from the labour ministry, he called the NLC president to brief him on the measures taken to alleviate the plight of the masses.
According to him, he then met with the president of the NLC, which resulted in a large volume of funds being made available to deposit money banks.
Ajaero urged the CBN to enhance their services, lamenting the information void caused by the redesign of the naira.
He stated, “The NLC could not have prevented the CBN from making prudent decisions and carrying them out in the national interest.” If stakeholders were invited and briefed on the policy, when the people complain, NLC would explain everything to them. In this instance, however, the CBN did it alone. Moreover, now is not the time to implement such a national policy.”
The National Executive Committee of the NLC will meet today to make a decision regarding the planned strike, according to him.
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