Call off strike, Senate tells Labour
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio
Published By: Isa Isawade
The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has passed a resolution urging organised labour to call off the ongoing national strike in the interest of the country.
This followed the adoption of a motion “On need for NLC to reconsider its stand on the ongoing strike at plenary on Wednesday by Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele (APC-Ekiti).
Presenting the motion, Bamidele said that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria among other unions commenced a nationwide strike on November 14.
He said that the senate was aware that the strike was connected with the alleged assault on the President of the NLC during the electioneering campaign that took place in Imo.
He said it was worrisome that most of the demands of the labour on the strike were not targeted at the welfare of Nigerian workers but essentially arising from the alleged political involvement of its president, who hailed from Imo.
He said the state Commissioner of Police had affirmed that as a matter of fact, there was indeed brutality by the police on the NLC President while participating in a political campaign in the state.
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Sen. Adamu Alero (PDP-Kebbi), who seconded the motion said the Senate must intervene to protect the nation’s economy.
He said the intervention of the senate would be timely, saying that the incident in Imo involving the alleged brutality of the NLC president was unfortunate.
On his part, Sen. Adams Oshiomole (APC-Edo) said his primary concern had always been labour issues and condemned police brutality against labour unionists.
He added that he had been a victim of police brutality as NLC leader.
He said the Senate had the obligation to do everything possible to bring an amicable solution to the labour crisis.
He urged the Senate to prevail on Federal and State Governments to implement the agreement reached with NLC and TUC, especially on the payment of N35,000 wage award by State Governments.
