Nigerians will suffer if NLC insists on strike – Labour minister

Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, Minister of Labour and Employment, has said that Nigerians will suffer if the National Labour Congress (NLC) insists on strike.

Nkeiruka Onyejeocha stated this during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Monday.

On Monday, the organized labour embarked on an  indefinite nationwide strike after the union failed to teach an agreement with the federal government over minimum wage.

But during the interview, Onyejeocha said the NLC pulled out when negotiations were ongoing, calling on the union to return to the negotiation table.

She said, “We know what the issues are and we are available for discussions and we hope they will be resolved; but going to strike will take the matter to the extreme with a lot of negative implications to both our economy and the welfare of the citizens.

“If the strike continues, the citizens will suffer and they have started suffering. Our students who supposed to be taking exams have been affected because they can’t find means of transportation to exams centres.

“On the other hand there are people who can’t eat until they go to their places of work. Some people who work at Secretariat live daily on what they get from the officers there.

“On production side, we know that when activities are shut down, it will affect our economy. Businesses will definitely be affected. Social life has also been affected too. Hospitals have been affected. There are people who had been scheduled to be operated today, but the doctors can’t access their work places. Somebody might have died.”