Breaking: NLC Declares Nationwide Strike; Laments Cash Crunch

Public sector employees are to go on a national strike starting on Wednesday of the next week, according to Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress. Additionally, he gave the order for all affiliated unions making up the Nigeria Labour Congress to be prepared for nationwide picketing operations at all CBN branches.

The order came after a previous ultimatum given by NLC Central Working Committee members last week in which they criticized the Federal Government’s cash swap program. According to Ajaero, the Federal Government and the CBN have not demonstrated any willingness to fix the situation; therefore, the decision to picket CBN facilities became imperative.

Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s judgment permitting the old N500 and N1000 notes to circulate alongside the new notes until December 31 of this year, he lamented that things are worsening as workers cannot access cash to pay for them transportation to work or buy food for their families.

The NLC’s top labor union spoke to the media on Wednesday at its offices and denounced the petroleum industry’s price inconsistencies, which also caused concern.

Ajaero stated,

“Last week, we gave an ultimatum for the review of the cash crunch bedeviling the country, but we have discovered to our dismay that as of this moment, not much effort has been made to ameliorate the situation; the government is still foot-dragging on these issues we raised. Based on this, we met again this morning to review our position and resolved that all CBN branches will be picketed by Wednesday next week. Workers are directed to stay at home too because people cannot eat, workers can no longer go to the office, we have been pushed to the wall, we have decided to take our destiny into our hands, we have mobilized our workers for this exercise,”