President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the Nigerian Labour Congress to reconsider its planned nationwide strike on November 6, over demand for new minimum wage.
The President made this appeal when he received members of the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria led by Ambassador Oladapo Fafowora at the Presidential Villa on Monday.
The NLC strike is planned to begin on Tuesday November 6, and in a statement by Femi Adesina, the President called for calm, saying his administration is doing more with fewer resources.
The statement read in part: “President Buhari also appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress to consider what this government inherited and the more it is doing with fewer resources in putting the economy right.
“The president reassured Nigerians that his administration will sustain massive investments to upgrade and develop the country’s transport and power infrastructure.
“He said Nigerians will never forget the ‘‘lost opportunity between 1999 and 2015,’’ when the nation had huge resources at its disposal.
“There is no part of the country I haven’t been to, having attempted to be President four times.
”I know the condition of our roads. The rails were literally killed, there was no power despite the admittance of some previous leadership that they spent $16bn on the sector.
”Today, we are getting our priorities right and we believe that of the three fundamental issues we campaigned on – security, the economy and fighting corruption-, we have remained very relevant and Nigerians believe we have achieved something.
“I will do my best to see that where there are possibilities of making a quick improvement on infrastructure, we will do it.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has directed its members nationwide to embark on the industrial action called by the Organized labour, to drive home their demand for an upward review of minimum wage for workers.
The Delta State NURTW Chairman, Chief Comrade Ifeanyi Obi, confirmed the position of the national leadership to newsmen in Asaba.
Obi said all motor parks are to remain closed in total adherence to the directive from the National Chairman of the Union.
Obi said this is in solidarity to the plight of the Nigerian workers in demanding for a minimum wage of N30, 000.00 as against N22,500.00 proposed by the Federal government.
The organized labour such as the NLC and TUC have directed all their members to proceed on an indefinite strike until their demand are met by the Federal government in defiance of a court order restraining them from embarking on further strikes.
Also, the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) has said it would join the indefinite strike championed by the NLC over the issue of new minimum wage.
MHWUN President, Biobelomoye Josiah, made this known on Monday at a news conference in Abuja.
He said members of the union would withdraw their services and consequently shutdown operations in their various places of work by midnight on Monday, in compliance with the directives issued to affiliate unions by the NLC.
Josiah also said the government should be held responsible for any hardships that may occur owing to their withdrawal of services in hospitals nationwide.
He explained that the tripartite agreement which arrived at the N30,000.00 minimum wage increment has been jettisoned by the government, adding that the lacked the political will to review and implement the legitimate demands of the Nigerian workers:
His words: “You may recall our National Body, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the organised labour have called on all workers in Nigeria to gear up for an indefinite nationwide strike which will commence Mid-night today.
“This is as a result of the failure to implement the constitutional requiremnt of the upward review of the national minimum wage which is long over due.
“We call on our members to remain resolute and be committed to the effective and orderly implementation of the nationwide strike commencing Tuesday except the government has a change of heart before then. It’s very obvious that the N18,000.00 National Minimum wage is no longer feasible and it is a trivialisation of a living wage.
“The government should be held responsible for the hardship that might occur (in hospitals) during the strike which ab initio should have been avoided, if the right thing had been done.
“Therefore we call on the government to increase the minimum wage to N30,000 which is a compromise figure agreed by the government and labour,” he added