Petrol subsidy: NLC announces 7-day national strike

Plans have been made by the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) for a nationwide strike that will start on August 2, 2023.

The congress stated it could not fold its arms while Nigerians continued to experience the impacts of subsidy removal, which has resulted in immense misery, despite the fact that a court injunction prohibiting the congress from going on strike in June still exists.

Prior to the initial removal of the petrol subsidy, the Tinubu administration sued the NLC in order to avert a statewide walkout. Although the government established a committee to communicate with the congress, representatives of the Trade Union Congress and the NLC claimed the committee had not successfully initiated a discussion with workers.

Chris Onyeka, one of the spokespersons of the NLC, told BusinessDay on Wednesday, that the Federal Government has frustrated labour out of negotiation on how best to address the hardships unleashed on Nigerians as result of the petrol subsidy removal.

“Since the committee was set up to work out the palliatives for workers and Nigerians, the committee hasn’t met. The government only set up the committee to give the impression that it was serious about doing something to ameliorate the pain of Nigerians.

“The government hasn’t convened the meeting of the committee, labour hasn’t been carried along,” said Onyeka

Tommy Okon, president of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigerian, had at a press conference in Lagos, last week, also expressed frustration with the way the government was handling the palliatives amid rising hardships in the country.