Abubakar Bello, the governor of Niger State has reacted to the planned strike by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
Recall that a statement jointly signed by Yakubu Garba, the chairman Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, his Trade Union Congress, TUC, counterpart, Yunusa Tanimu instructed workers to embark on an indefinite strike from February 4, 2020, over non-implementation of the new national minimum wage
The NLC said the decision was reached after the organized labour held an emergency joint State Executive Council, SEC, meeting on January 29, 2020, to resolve on a 21 days ultimatum of a strike action earlier issued to the government.
Reacting, Bello in a statement signed by his chief press secretary, Mary Berje in Minna on Tuesday, February 4, 2020, appealed to NLC to shelve its planned strike for peace and industrial harmony.
He said he was working relentlessly to ensure that all pending issues concerning civil servants were addressed swiftly.
The governor further stated that negotiations were still ongoing and the government was doing its best to improve the living standard of the people in spite of the challenges and paucity of funds.
“We are still negotiating with labour, we intend to avert the industrial action and we are calling on the organised labour to rescind its decision to embark on the strike and allow negotiations to continue,’’ he said.
He explained that key government officials led by the deputy governor, Ahmed Ketso and labour officials would meet to discuss the way forward and outcome of the meeting would be made public.
Bello noted that though, 85 per cent of the state’s allocation was used for payment of salaries, the government had remained committed to the welfare of the state civil servants and would not relent until an agreement was reached.
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