Strike: Partial Compliance As Lagos, Katsina, Sokoto Workers Shun Protest
The strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress to protest the failure of the Federal Government to provide palliatives following the fuel subsidy removal Tuesday grounded economic and commercial activities in several states but workers in Lagos, Sokoto, and Katsina states snubbed the labour action.
Banks and other financial institutions and the civil service in the three states as well as Delta, Bayelsa, and Ogun did not comply with the NLC directive to shut down services as they attended to their customers.
But the two-day strike, which commenced on Tuesday paralysed activities in the Federal Capital Territory and some states with banks, ministries, agencies, and departments shut to the public.
1Also, workers in various power firms, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, Tuesday, joined the industrial action as their action disrupted the supply of electricity across the country. Power distribution companies however begged their customers for the disruption.
The NLC leadership had said the two-day warning strike was in preparation for a total shutdown which would start in 21 days.
The decision was taken at the end of its National Executive Council meeting which was held last Friday.
A communiqué released by the labour centre and jointly signed by its National President, Joe Ajaero, and Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, said it decided to take the decision following the failure of the Bola Tinubu government to enter into dialogue and engage stakeholders within the organised labour on efforts to cushion the effects of the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol on the masses.
A move to stop the strike by the Federal Government on Monday failed as the NLC leaders did not turn up at a meeting with the Minister of Information, Mallam Mohammed Idiris, and his labour ministry counterpart, Simeon Lalong.
Though the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees said its members would join the strike due to the punishing economic situation in the country, visits to several branches of banks on Lagos Island confirmed that they did not join the industrial action.
Branches of First Bank Plc including its head office, a branch of Union Bank, Wema Bank, and Polaris Bank attended to their customers.
The First Bank head office and its Abibu Oki branch along Marina were open to the public.
However, a security guard at a First Bank branch on Customs Street, Lagos Island, opposite the Lagos office of the Central Bank of Nigeria, initially prevented customers from entering the banking hall saying, “We are not operating because of the strike.”
As the customers insisted on carrying out their transactions, he went inside the hall and later returned to let the customers in.
At the Polaris bank branch along Broad Street, a bank worker said that they were still waiting for directives on the strike but until then, they would be working.
The bank worker who didn’t want his name in print said, “We are not on strike. We are working until they tell us that we should go home.”
Similarly, operations at the Broad Street branch of Wema Bank were uninterrupted, the same as the Union Bank branch at Tinubu Square.
Like their colleagues in the banks, the aviation workers at the Lagos airport shunned the strike as activities at the nation’s flagship airport continued as normal.
The aviation union said the representatives of the United Nations agency and the International Civil Aviation Authority were due to arrive in Nigeria to audit the nation’s aviation sector and it would be insensitive to down tolls at this time.
The General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals, Abdulrazak Saidu said, “We will not participate 100 percent because of the ongoing International Civil Aviation Organization audit. We cannot afford to allow ICAO to punish Nigeria because of this (strike) and we made this known to them at the last NLC meeting.’’
However, the NLC directive was fully implemented at the Lagos Ports as the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria shut down port operations.
MWUN in a letter on Monday titled, ‘Compliance to the Nigerian Labour Congress directive on a nationwide two-day warning strike’, signed by the Head of Media, MWUN, John Ikemefuna, said it was backing the two-day strike.
However, it was gathered that the Apapa and Tincan Island Ports gates were all locked.
Also, the Mile 2 expressway was locked down as commercial vehicles refused to transport commuters, leading to disruptions in some offices in the Apapa area.
Giving an update on the strike, the National Deputy President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Nnadi Ugochukwu, said that some containers that were cleared early Tuesday morning could not leave the ports because the main gate of Tincan Island Port had been locked.
Also speaking, a former Apapa Chapter Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, Mr Frank Obiejesi said, “There are no activities at Apapa ports, it is shut down.”
But, normal day-to-day activities at the Lagos State secretariat, Alausa were in progress when our correspondent visited the place on Tuesday.
An official at the secretariat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that civil servants in the state had no reason to join the strike.
He said, “Most of the things that the NLC is demanding had been done by the state government even before the labour union began its agitation.
“For example, the NLC is demanding an increase in salary for workers. Lagos State already did this long before the demand.
“The demand for palliatives has also been fulfilled by the state government. Bus fares have been slashed by 50 percent, buses are provided to convey workers to and from work, and just on Sunday, the governor flagged off the distribution of food palliatives.
“So, why should civil servants in the state join the strike? There is no reason to join the strike.”
Another civil servant, who also spoke under the condition of anonymity, simply said, “We don’t have any reason to join the strike.”