Officials of the Niger NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) monitoring compliance with the two-day nationwide warning strike on Tuesday forced top civil servants who reported for work to leave their offices.

A correspondent who monitored compliance observed that the top civil servants flouted the unions’ directive to stay away from work.

Organised labour demands a better deal for civil servants and Nigerians due to the current hardship occasioned by the federal government’s fuel subsidy removal.

The top civil servants forced to leave their offices included the accountant general of the state, Saidu Abdullahi; Joseph James, permanent secretary, head of service, establishment department; Idris Legbo, permanent secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Culture; and Ismail Bako, general manager, Niger Urban Development Board.

Idrees Lafene, the state NLC chairman and his TUC counterpart, who led the monitoring team, told journalists that there was 70 per cent compliance with the strike, excluding commercial banks that defied the directive by opening for businesses.

He observed that some civil servants who reported to work stayed outside the state secretariat in clusters before returning home.

Mr Lafene expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance, stating that the state NLC was not happy with exempting civil servants and pensioners from the distribution of palliatives, which would begin on Wednesday.

He said the organised labour demanded the inclusion of a N50,000 flat rate as a palliative for all workers and retirees’ salaries in the state and local government areas for six months.

He said labour also demanded the implementation of a minimum pension based on the N30,000 national minimum wage to retirees in the state and local government areas.

Places visited by organised labour included the new and old secretariats housing Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), General Hospital, Minna, House of Assembly, Chanchaga Water Works, and Niger State Board of Internal Revenue. 

(NAN).