Labour suspends nationwide strikes

Electricity tariff hikes have been reversed in an overnight deal between government and labour, but fuel price increases remain.

ELFREDAH KEVIN-ALERECHI • September 28, 2020

Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) used to illustrate the story

The labour unions have suspended a planned nationwide protest scheduled to be held today, after overnight talks with the government opened common grounds for both sides.

The resolution was made after a meeting which started at 7:30pm yesterday and lasted till midnight today at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

At the meeting with the Federal Government, the hike in electricity tariff was suspended while the new fuel price still remains.

^{_{Chris Ngige, Festus Keyamo, others, negotiating with NLC at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. [PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter handle of Festus Keyamo]}}

At the end of the meeting, a committee to be headed by the labour minister Chris Ngige was set up to look into conflicting field reports justifying hike in electricity tariff. Further talks would also be held about why Nigerians should continue to live with the recent hikes that jerked petrol prices from N143 a litre to over N180.

^{_{Chris Ngige, Festus Keyamo, Boss Mustapha, others, negotiating with NLC at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. [PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter handle of Festus Keyamo]}}

The unions had scheduled September 28 to protest the hardship being imposed on ordinary Nigerians by the government’s fluid initiatives.

Several other rights groups have said they would join the strikes for maximum effect. It was not immediately clear whether the groups would proceed with protests independent of labour’s participation.

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