The Federal Government on Wednesday, met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC and Trade Union Congress TUC to resolve the ongoing nationwide strike declared by the two centres.
The meeting which was held at the office of the National Security Adviser NSA was attended by the NSA Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Minister of Labour and Employment Simon Bako Lalong, Minister of State Labour and Employment Nkeiruka Onyeajeocha and the Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour Mr. Emmanuel Igbinosa as well as the Director Trade Union Services.
A statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to the Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Makut Simon Macham said that the Labour leaders were led to the meeting by the TUC President Festus Osifo, NLC Secretary General Emmanuel Ugboaja, TUC Secretary General Nuhu Toro and other Labour leaders.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong who spoke after the meeting held behind closed doors, said “The two sides had frank, fruitful and genuine discussions on steps that have been taken by the government to address the concerns of labour over the incident in Imo State”.
Lalong, according to the statement said “the labour agreed to take the outcome back to their members and consider the plea of government to call off the strike in the interest of the nation”.
In his response, President of TUC Festus Osifo said the meeting was robust and “with a lot of assurances given by the government team that some suspects have been apprehended on the Imo incident.
The TUC President said that they were also informed about other actions that the Government has taken and others it will take in addressing the grievances of the labour.
Osifo said that labour would go back and appraise the outcome of the meeting and communicate to its members appropriately to decide on the way forward.
The meeting, according to the statement was held at the office of the NSA because of the security considerations associated with the strike and its genesis.
Recall that workers under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, last week, blocked the entrances and exits routes of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja, to drive home their grievances of the of what they called the “manhandling and abduction of the NLC President Joe Ajaero when he went to lead a workers’ protest in Owerri, Imo State, Southeast Nigeria”.
At the Abuja protest last week, labour re-emphasied its call on the government not only to redeploy the Commissioner of Police in Imo State but also to fish out the perpetrators of the assault on the NLC President and bring them to book.
Dominica Nwabufo
