APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The nationwide strike called on Tuesday by the Organized Labour in Nigeria to protest against the assault on the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. Joe Ajaero by suspected thugs in Owerri in Imo State in southeastern Nigeria on November 1 was partially observed across the country.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Festus Osifo, had announced at a press conference in Abuja late on Monday that the strike action would commence nationwide on Tuesday.
Osifo told a news conference that all the affiliates of the NLC and TUC had been mobilised for the strike which might paralyse economic activities across the country.
Some of the protesting workers told journalists in Abuja that the late declaration of the strike was responsible for the partial compliance by workers on Tuesday.
However, reports from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja in the afternoon said that the parliamentary staff under the aegis of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, had to shut down the country’s National Assembly (Parliament) in compliance with the directive of the NLC.
According to the reports, all entry gates to the National Assembly were shut causing long traffic gridlock, while the staff of the National Assembly and other commuters had to trek long distances to get to their destination.
In Lagos, there was partial compliance to the strike as the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) opened for business, while some commercial banks also opened for business.
But reports from the other states said that the Edo State chapter of the NLC downed tools at government offices in Benin in compliance with the nationwide industrial action declared by the national body.
The reports said that the Civil Service Secretariat in Benin City, the Edo State capital, union leaders, including the state NLC chairman, Mr Odion Olaye, locked out civil servants who had come to work and that gates of the State High Court and the Edo State House of Assembly were under lock and key.
And in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the NLC, TUC and other affiliate bodies also joined the ongoing indefinite national industrial action as instructed by their national leadership and that the staff members of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company were stranded at the gate, while the gate was under lock and key.
The reports also said that some northern states also observed the strike and that in northern Katsina State, the chapters of the NLC and TUC joined the strike, saying that it would continue until the government at all levels wakes up to its responsibility.
According to the reports, the strike is indefinite and it is expected to continue on Wednesday across the country.
GIK/APA
Nigeria: Nationwide strike by organized Labour records partial compliance
