By Ayo Yusuf
In a desperate attempt to avert the nationwide strike slated for October 3 by Nigerian workers, the Federal Government is to hold an emergency meeting with leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and their counterpart in the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC.
The meeting is scheduled for later this evening at the Aso Villa Conference Room of the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
It was gathered that the government had earlier fixed the meeting for 12 noon today, but the time had to be shifted to this evening to enable Organised Labour to reach out to their leaders outside Abuja.
According to sources, the NLC and its TUC counterpart received the government’s invitation this morning through the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
It is however not clear if the labour leaders will be attending the meeting as they had earlier sworn that nothing will stop the strike which they had dubbed “the mother of all strikes,” from taking place.
It would be recalled that barely two days ago the National Deputy President of the Trade Union Congress, Tommy Etim, had assured that nothing would stop the total strike called for October 3.
Mr Etim, who stated that the unions had given the government sufficient time to address their demands, stressed that workers will not allow themselves to be deceived any longer.
The labour leader told newsmen on Wednesday that any fresh meeting with the Federal Government would be pointless and asked Nigerians to prepare themselves for a long-drawn industrial action.
“The government had been given more than enough time to meet our demands but they did nothing. The strike has been fixed, nothing will stop it and if they (FG) like, they can go to court as usual.
“The only thing that can stop the strike is if they meet all our demands,’’ he had said .
Asked what Nigerians should expect during the industrial action, the labour leader added, “It will not just be a total shutdown of the nation, it is going to be the mother of all strikes. Do you know that they are even planning to sack 17,000 workers in this period when Nigerians are suffering great hardships?’’
Another top official of the NLC who spoke in the same vein said, “The issues are straightforward, NLC’s joint communiqué was very clear. NLC has declared an indefinite nationwide strike which is to begin on October 3, 2023, and nothing will make us not to start unless the government does everything we have said they should do.’’
Asked if the unions would shelve their plan if invited to a meeting by FG, the union leader vowed, “No meeting or promise would make us stop; the only thing that would make us stop is the fulfillment of all those demands, nothing else.”
