Ajaero: NLC, TUC Suspend Nationwide Strike

The joint National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have suspended the indefinite nationwide.

The decision was reached at a meeting on Wednesday that deliberated on the outcome of an earlier interface with the Federal Government led by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.

The TUC President, Festus Osifo, confirmed the suspension to Channels Television on Wednesday evening.

Organised labour said it has received a commitment from the Ribadu-led meeting that those arrested for the physical assault on NLC President, Joe Ajaero, would be prosecuted.

A source at the meeting, who spoke with Vanguard, said: “He (NSA) also told us that suspects have been arrested and that detailed investigations would be conducted. We have no reason to doubt his sincerity because without his intervention, probably Comrade Ajaero would have been killed.“

“So, they (government) did not want it to continue because like they said, it is worsening the already fragile economy, among others, and national security.

“On our part, we faulted the labour minister who was in attendance, alongside the minister of state for labour, for not apprehending the strike. We made him to understand that if he had intervened, probably we would not have got to this stage.

“We told him that there was no word or statement from the ministry, condemning what happened in Imo when the issues are purely labour issues.

“He said we did not communicate to him officially and that if we had communicated to him officially, he would have known what to do.“

‘But we told him that once an ultimatum has been issued, it is his responsibility to apprehend the strike because the issues are industrial relations matters.

“Again, by this strike, we have made the point that our right to strike cannot be denied us. The National Industrial Court, NIC, cannot be a cover for government to perpetuate all kinds of impunity and lawlessness. Nigeria is signatory to the International Labour Organization, ILO, conventions and the right to strike is core.

Emerging from the meeting, President of TUC, Osifo who spoke on behalf of labour, said: “We came here for a discussion . The NSA invited us in furtherance of a press release he issued disclosing that some persons have been arrested in connection with the brutality meted out on the NLC President.

”At the end of the day, he made several promises of what they are going to do and several appeals for the strike to be called off.

“We had a robust conversation and we told him our side of the issues. The strike was caused by something and the strike is a symptom of the problem. Every conversation we have had, we are taking back to our organs.

“The NSA promised to coordinate all the steps and issues involved. We will go back, reappraise the conversations we have had, with all the assurances they have given us, before coming out with a decision.