The Lagos State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congres (NLC) has vowed to go on with the strike action and protest scheduled to kick off on Monday, September 28, notwithstanding the outcome of a meeting the Federal scheduled for Sunday evening.
A Federal Government delegation is scheduled to meet with organised labour in Abuja at 7pm, in a last effort at making labour see reasons why Nigerian workers should not embark on the planned protest and strike over hike in electricity tariffs and pump price of petrol.
An earlier meeting by labour with the House of Representatives did not yield result and the NLC insisted on going ahead with the planned protest and strike.
The Deputy Vice President of NLC, Amaechi Asugwuni, made the position of the labour organisation known in Lagos on Sunday.
He said: “The action is set to take effect from Monday to protest against the arbitrary increase of electricity and petrol without recourse to the sufferings of Nigerians.
“Labour has deliberated on this matter through their organs and have come to the conclusion that the best way to resist this action is to go on a nationwide strike, including protest and that we have come to emphasize that the action proposed to take effect from Monday is still holding.
“The Federal government has one option, and that is to reverse the decision that has been metted against Nigerians.
“This action is a no-going back action; we have to engage in order for Nigerians to have hope. The rule of law is where the government needs to listen to the voices of the people and consult before effecting a policy.
“We are calling on all Nigerians to ensure that the action planned to take place tomorrow, holds.
“I call on all affiliates here in Lagos and every part of the country on behlaf of labour centres in nigeria, we must act and we must be available to defend our right”.
Further justifying the action of labour, Asugwuni said Nigerians are crying, adding, that the planned strike and protests are the only way Nigerians can express their disapproval to that policy.
He further said that NLC expected schools, banks and airports to be closed until the action is relaxed.
Speaking further, Asugwuni said government chose to take action on the issues in contention before thinking of engagement.
“On the issue of electricity, they had an engagement with labour in Kano and we discouraged them from proceeding. It was a big shock to see that they still went ahead to dare Nigerians and this is beyond the working class, we are talking about the average household.
“Every Nigerian has a generator to earn a living or help themselves.
Irrespective of the outcome of the meeting, the action still holds and we need to brief our members and Nigerians on what line of action we will take at the end of the meeting, so we are gathering at 6am on Monday to protest the arbitrary increase in electricity and petrol”, he said.