The leadership of the organised labour has maintained that major actions it is planning to carry out after a 14-day ultimatum it gave expired would go on as planned if the federal government does not resolve all the issues it raised.
This is just the federal government, begging the two labour centres to withdraw their notice of strike issued last week Thursday over what it described as non-implementation of 16-point agreement it reached during October last year negotiation meeting.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, who made this plea at a meeting with the two leaderships of both Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), promised again that the government would resume payment of N35,000 wage award to workers.
Daily Trust reports that the federal government has only paid N35,000 wage award to workers twice since September 2023 when the payment was initiated as agreed by both parties – the development many workers had described as “unfair”.
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Speaking before the meeting went into a closed-door, Onyejeocha explained that the government had stepped up efforts to complete the implementation of those agreements, adding that she convened the meeting in order to brief the two Labour centres on the progress of the implementation.
“It is true we entered into an agreement, but the government has shown good faith, and considering the urgency of the issue at hand, I called this meeting because dialogue has always been the best way out, and we are all for the well-being of our people.
“I am here to show good cause on why some agreement has not been met,” the minister told the gathering led by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero and his counterpart from TUC, Festus Osifo at the headquarters of ministry of Labour and Employment.
She noted that while the reaction of the labour organisations was not unwarranted in the face of government’s non-completion of the agreement, bearing in mind that some items in the agreement could only be achieved in stages.
She assured them of President Bola’s sincerity of purpose and unflinching dedication to the implementation of that agreement, adding that he would leave no stone unturned to satisfy the demands of the labour organisations.
But the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, enjoined the Federal Government to be committed to beating the deadline of the 14-day ultimatum, which started on 9th February 2024, by ensuring the implementation of that agreement.
Ajaero, who declared that the organised labour had resolved to stand by their ultimatum, and that every party to the agreement should endeavour to live up to expectation for the interest of Nigerians and the government, stressed that the Congress would always fulfil its part of the bargain, so long as the federal government would do same.
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