The Federal Government has until Friday to accede to the demands of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), failing which they face a strike.
The Federal Government met with the leaders of the organised union and begged for more time to address their complaints before issuing the warning.
The union’s leadership claimed that the Federal Government had more than enough time to respond to its demands.
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The demands include, among other things, the release of modalities for N70 billion for Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, wage awards, tax exemptions and allowances for public sector employees, the provision of compressed natural gas, or CNG, buses, the release of officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, or NURTW, by the police, and the vacation of occupation of Police-backed Interlopers.
One of the NLC representatives present at the meeting told Vanguard that, among other things, NLC President Joe Ajaero mentioned that the union’s demands would likely not be granted by the government before the 21-day deadline passed.
The source said, “Precisely, our 21-day ultimatum will expire this Friday, September 22. Recall that we issued the ultimatum on September 1, 2023. So, Comrade Ajaero has made that point clear, that the government has up till Friday to address our demands or risk another round of industrial unrest.
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“He cited the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, quagmire and asked that the Police and Federal government be called to order to give respite to the union.
“The NURTW issue is within the purview of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, FMLE, which the ministry can immediately resolve.
“At the closed-door meeting, after the recess, when the Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, who initiated the meeting, called on NLC to give the government more time to address our demands, Ajaero responded that nobody can accuse the congress of not giving the government reasonable time because we have given more than enough time to the government to act.
“It is not fair to ask us to give the government a reasonable period when we have already done so. He urged the minister to expedite action within the remaining days of the ultimatum.
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“He informed the minister that it is impossible for the congress to leave the meeting without achieving some of our objectives. We will not tell Nigerians that what we got is that we should give the government reasonable time.
“So, it is up to the government to meet our demands before Friday. After Friday, NLC will take any industrial action it deems appropriate to respond to the demand of the time.”
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