By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) may suspend its proposed nationwide strike scheduled to commence tomorrow, Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
On Monday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, held a meeting with the leadership of the union on how to avert the cash scarcity strike.
Recall that last Wednesday, the NLC leadership under Mr Joe Ajaero issued a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government to end the Naira scarcity in the country.
The union had threatened that there would go on strike from Wednesday, March 29, if the cash scarcity was not resolved at the expiration of the ultimatum.
Following this, Mr Ngige subsequently invited the apex bank leadership and the NLC to a meeting yesterday to resolve the matter, according to a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr Olajide Oshundun.
The statement disclosed that, “The ten-man delegation of the NLC was led by the President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and the General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, while the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele was accompanied by two Deputy Governors, Kingsley Obiora (Economic Policy) and Ade Shonubi (Organised Private Sector).”
In his remarks, the Minister refuted the allegation of the NLC that his ministry did nothing about the matter, noting that after receiving the letter from NLC, he forwarded the same to the CBN governor before travelling out of the country for an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Board meeting and directed the Permanent Secretary and Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations Department to follow up.
On his part, Mr Emefiele said when he received the letter from the Labour Ministry, he called the President of NLC to brief him on steps taken to alleviate the sufferings of the masses and equally made an appointment and had a fruitful discussion with the NLC president.
He said a large volume of funds was made available to the deposit money banks, which were directed to open their branches on Saturdays and Sundays. The apex bank chief said the commercial banks complied with this directive under the strict supervision of the CBN.
According to Mr Emefiele, following the steps taken, Nigerians have been enjoying their money.
On his part, Mr Ajaero said the union only got a reply to their second letter to the ministry and, subsequently, an invitation to the meeting.
He said they no longer envisage any problem since CBN has started sending cash to the banks and Nigerians were now accessing their money.
The union leader, however, urged the CBN to improve on their services, regretting the information gap created in the implementation of the Naira redesign.
“NLC could not have stopped CBN from taking good decisions and implementing them in the interest of the nation. If stakeholders were invited and briefed on the policy, when the people complain, NLC would explain everything to them. But in this case, the CBN did it alone. Moreover, it is a wrong time for administering such a national policy,” Mr Ajaero was quoted as saying.
He assured that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of NLC would meet today, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, where members from states and Local Government Areas are expected to report on the availability of money, after which a decision will be taken on the strike.
The Minister, however, assured all that whether the NLC is embarking on the dispute of right or dispute of interest, the dispute has been apprehended and can only result in more dialogue and not strike.
