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The leadership of the National Assembly is currently engaging leaders of organised labour in a last-ditch intervention to avert the looming nationwide industrial action.
The meeting is taking place in Abuja and is being attended by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero; and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo.
Also in attendance are the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Labour, Employment and Productivity respectively, Diket Plang, and Adegboyega Adefarati.
Akpabio and Abbas are looking to persuade the aggrieved workers to shelve their planned strike slated to begin on Monday, June 3, 2024.
The National Assembly said the engagement was necessary to “avert the impending industrial action which would have severe repercussions on the populace and economy.”
Labour declares indefinite strike
Following the government's failure to meet their ₦500,000 new minimum wage demand, the labour unions announced that it has resolved to embark on the industrial action, which would last until there's a favourable proposal for Nigerian workers.
Part of labour's demand includes the reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariffs.
The labour unions also said the current ₦30,000 minimum wage can no longer take an average Nigerian worker home.
They lamented that not all governors are paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Federal Government had initially proposed ₦48,000 as the new minimum and later jacked it up to ₦60,00, which the organised private sector also agreed with but the labour unions have insisted on nothing less than ₦500,000.