No going back on strike, NLC insists

Federal government’s late move to prevent the organised labour from embarking on a planned nationwide strike has failed as the meeting between it and union leaders on Wednesday ended in deadlock.

Though the government pleaded that the strike be shelved as the tripartite committee will begin meeting next Thursday, labour insisted that the meeting should have been held before now.

A meeting between a government delegation, led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday ended in a deadlock.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, President of the NLC, Ayuba Wabba, insisted that labour would proceed with the warning strike from Wednesday (today) midnight.

The union, in collaboration with civil society groups, had declared that it would embark on the strike from 26 September to press home its demand for the implementation of a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.