Workers in Niger State have commenced an indefinite strike following the failure of the state government to meet their demands.
The strike directive was issued by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Tuesday.
The decision to down tools came after the state government allegedly failed to continue negotiations on issues affecting the welfare of the workers and the state’s operations.
The state chairman of the NLC, Idrees Lafene, and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Ibrahim Gana, directed civil servants to commence the strike.
OsunDailyNG reports that the NLC, in a letter addressed to Governor Mohammed Bago and signed by Lafene and Gana, expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to meet their demands and reiterated their commitment to the strike action which they said would begin by 8am on Wednesday until their demands are met
The Secretary to the State Government, Abubakar Usman, attempted to avert the strike by informing journalists of a meeting scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to address the issues.
He assured that the government was people and labour-friendly and open to dialogue.
However, the planned meeting did not take place, leading to confirmation from a reliable source in the organised labour union that the strike would proceed as planned.
The source urged all branches to mobilise their members for total compliance.
Efforts to reach the Information Officer of the SSG, Tanko Lawal, for comments were unsuccessful as his phone line was not reachable.
