Labour’s strike flops

 The nationwide strike called yesterday by the Comrade Ayuba Wabba-led Nigeria Labour Con­gress (NLC) to protest the Federal Government’s hike of petrol price from N86 to N145 per litre did not hold in most states of the Federa­tion and the Federal Capital Terri­tory (FCT), Abuja.
In Abuja and other major cit­ies in the country, public and pri­vate offices, banks and markets were open. Civil servants and private em­ployees reported for work and car­ried out their normal duties with­out harassment by their labour leaders. There were, however, no enforcement teams of the NLC to picket organisations that flouted the union’s strike order.
In Abuja, a team of NLC offi­cials led by Wabba marched from the Labour House to the Feder­al Secretariat and to other public establishments within the Central Area. An unruffled Wabba told journalists that the indefinite na­tionwide strike had commenced as planned. He said the NLC went ahead with the industrial action to en­sure good governance and trans­parent process in the interest of all Nigerians. According to Wabba, though the impact of the strike was not felt as expected yesterday, Nigeri­ans would eventually see that NLC meant business and would not be distracted by any government’s plot to weaken its mandate. The NLC leader pledged the commitment of the organised la­bour to continuing with the strike irrespective of the differences be­tween it and some of its members.

When The AUTHORITY vis­ited some ministries, secretari­ats and other parastatals in Abuja, their workers went about their nor­mal duties as directed by the Fed­eral Government after its no-strike deal with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joe Ajaero’s faction of the NLC. Similarly, banks, markets and shops in the FCT were open for business.
Wabba said: “The NLC will continue to fight against anti-peo­ple policies of the government. La­bour and particularly, the NLC, has said consistently that if policies are right, we will support them but if government’s policies are anti-peo­ple, we will resist them. And no plot of this government will succeed in weakening our mandate.
He assured Nigerians that the NLC would continue to stand by the people and attack issues that would create hardship for the masses.
In Lagos, members of the Ni­gerian Labour Congress (NLC) be­longing to the Comrade Ayuba Wabba-led faction and civil socie­ty organisations yesterday blocked the road leading to the Murtala Mu­hammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, in a mass protest against the increase in petrol pump price.

The road which was blocked for about six hours affected the free flow of traffic, forcing intending air pas­sengers to alight from the vehicles and trek to the various terminals.
The protest came in fulfillment of the threat by the Comrade Wab­ba Ayuba faction of the NLC to go ahead with the national wide strike after the talks with the Federal Gov­ernment broke down.
The NLC, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NU­ATE) and other civil society groups gathered at the roundabout close to Forte Oil and Arik Air, where they sang solidarity songs and made an­ti-Federal Government speeches regarding the hike in petrol pump price from N86 to N145 per litre.

Speaking at the protest, the Sec­retary, JAF, Comrade Abiodun Are­mu stated that the strike embarked on by labour and other groups is to resist the “wicked” increases in fuel price and electricity tariff . He added that there was no go­ing back on the strike brought about by the increases in the price of fuel from N86 per litre to N145 per li­tre until the federal government re­verses the pump price to the former N86 per litre.

In Enugu State, the strike flopped as both civil servants, the private sector and other business groups failed to down tools.
The AUTHORITY checks re­vealed that every sector of the state economy operated effectively. Com­mercial buses plied their various routes, conveying workers to their destinations whilst students and pu­pils went to schools and traders dis­played their wares.
Commercial banks also oper­ated in full capacity as they attended to customers. Government hospitals were also open while the judiciary and the state legislature had a field day, as members of the State House of Assembly held plenary.

The strike did not hold in Ogun State as stakeholders pulled out of it. Our correspondent who was on the streets in the early hours of yesterday observed that schools, banks, markets and even govern­ment establishments and parastatals were open. Although many students of public schools were turned back by their teachers, many other schools opened, though with skeletal oper­ations. At the Ogun State Secretariat in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the state capital, all the two gates were wide­ly open while some of the workers were at their duty posts as early as 8am. Banks along the popular Lalu­bu Road in Oke-Ilewo in Abeoku­ta, the state capital were also open. Workers at the State Hospital in Ijaye were also at their duty posts while the situation was the same at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Idi-Aba within the state capital. At the Isabo High and Magis­trate Courts, judges and court of­ficials gathered but the gates were locked.

At the NLC Secretariat in Leme, the protest, which was earli­er billed to begin by 7am, could not start until 10am as members of the union were not on ground to join the action.
The protest led by the state NLC Chairman, Comrade Akeem Ambali and Folari Olayinka of the Committee for the Defence of Hu­man Rights (CDHR) later took over. Ambali, while addressing the press, explained that the protest was decentralised in the state, add­ing that the action was taking place in all the 20 local government are­as of the state.
In Imo State, most workers, es­pecially those at the state civil ser­vice, resumed at their duty posts be­fore the state NLC leadership led by Comrade Austin Chilakpu ad­dressed them and enjoined them to adhere to the directive of the na­tional body. It was a similar situation at the Federal institutions in the state whose workers only left their prem­ises after they were addressed by of­ficials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Civil servants and the pri­vate sector workers in Rivers State shunned the strike as business ac­tivities were not affected in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
At the State Secretariat, nor­mal work went on, though earlier in the day, there was an attempt by the NLC to lock up the place but it was foiled by the Head of the Civ­il Service, Mr. Rufus Godwin, who ordered that the major gates to the secretariat be opened for normal business. Reacting to the failed strike, the state chairman of the TUC, Chi­ka Onuegbu described it as a “trag­edy” and a “minus” for the labour movement.

In Anambra State, the work­ers came to work but did not enter their offices at the State Secretari­at. The banks in the complex were closed.
Business activities were halt­ed in the industrial town of Nne­wi over fear of the strike by the la­bour union, but when there were no threats from any quarters, busi­nesses were opened. The staffers of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hos­pital (NAUTH) were also on duty and attended to patients.
In Awka, the state capital, gov­ernment offices were locked up even though workers were await­ing further directives but nobody addressed them.
Leaders of the ASUU from Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojuk­wu University, who earlier sent text messages to members to attend a rally at the Alex Ekwueme Square, discovered that the area was locked and a few security patrol vehicles were stationed there.

The Federal Government had on Tuesday declared the strike il­legal. Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal urged Nigerians to go about their businesses without fear of molestation. Lawal, who briefed pressmen at the end of consultation with la­bour leaders on Tuesday night, said security forces had been mandated to deal with anyone trying to cause trouble.