The Federal Government says the national strike by the organised labour over the fuel price hike could cause a breakdown of law and order if it was not stopped.
Showing posts with label fuel subsidy removal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fuel subsidy removal. Show all posts
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Labour's strike may cause anarchy – FG
The Federal Government says the national strike by the organised labour over the fuel price hike could cause a breakdown of law and order if it was not stopped.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said this yesterday while briefing State House reporters after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
He was explaining why the government approached the National Industrial Court (NIC) for restraining labour from embarking on the industrial action.
He said: “Labour had threatened to shut down the economy which could lead to breakdown of law and order. They must serve the government 15 days notice before embarking on strike. There should be a reconciliation process, but all these were not complied with.”
The minister also said the government went to court not to cause disharmony between the two factions of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), but to enforce constitutionality.
The president of the National Industrial Court, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, had Tuesday, following an ex-parte application filed by the Attorney General of the Federation, restrained the labour unions from going on strike, pending the determination of the suit.
Meanwhile, Labour Minister, Chris Ngige, has said the government had set up a 15-man committee to look into labour’s demands including the reconstitution of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, reversal of the fuel price hike and N56,000 minimum wage.
The minister said the committee was expected to submit its report in two weeks.
He also said the government’s separate negotiations with both leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero, was not to encourage factionalisation.
“We’re ready to discuss with anybody, even civil society groups. We, as a government, will not encourage factionalism, if for anything, we’re unifying them by bringing them together to talk about issues that concern their unions and Nigerians. We’ve the right to talk to whoever we want. We’ll open our doors to them for negotiations when they come back,” Ngige said.
Fuel price hike: NLC strike flops on Day 1
While the Ayuba Wabba-led Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) meeting with the government broke down, the Joe Ajaero faction and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) struck a deal with the government and refused to join the strike.
Workers at the Federal Secretariat, the Head of Service and the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) in Abuja reported for work and did not participate in the rally by the Wabba-led NLC later in the morning.
Some of the workers however told Daily Trust in their offices that they would have preferred the strike. “Since last week Thursday, most of us have been having it rough especially on transportation, the strike may have forced the government to reduce the price if it cannot revert to the N87 per litre,” one of the workers said.
The Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoCS), Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, in a statement, urged workers to report for duty and go about their normal businesses.
The statement said a circular issued to all permanent secretaries and heads of extra- ministerial departments by the HoCS and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Common Services Office (CSO) in the Office of the HoCS, Mr. Yemi Adelakun, urged all civil servants to report punctually to work daily.
The SGF, Babachir David Lawal, had on Tuesday night directed all ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of government agencies to invoke the provision of ‘no work, no pay rule to any staff who joins the strike. He directed that attendance registers be opened in all MDAs to monitor compliance.
But the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU yesterday joined in the nation-wide strike organised by the Ayuba Wabba-led faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
The National President of SSANU, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, said the union decided to join the strike because other unions in the universities, including the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), held peaceful solidarity on campuses in support of the strike action.
“We have unanimously taken the directive of the NLC to proceed on indefinite strike against the increase in fuel price to N145. From the look of things, it will cause hardship. And the government has not engaged the labour leadership properly,” he said.
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