The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has summoned its highest organ, the National Executive Council (NEC), for a meeting today (Sunday) in Abuja to review the ongoing nationwide strike embarked upon on Wednesday to protest against the hike in the price of petrol by the Federal Government.
The labour centre is expected to hold two meetings of its organs, the National Administrative Council (NAC), an organ of elected officers and the NEC, comprising representatives of all the Congress affiliates.
According to a source, it was in the agenda of the Congress at its last meeting on Tuesday where it declared the indefinite strike to review the strike at the weekend.
Today’s meeting, according to the President of the Congress, Ayuba Wabba, would also be discussing the proposal by the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who turned up at the NLC secretariat in Abuja on Friday to appeal to the leadership of the congress to suspend the strike.
Tinubu, who visited the NLC in company with other powerful APC cheftains, including Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Senators Sulaiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna North), Kabir Marafa (Zamfara Central and many others had said that his mission was to broker truce.
He had charged NLC to return to the negotiation table with the Federal Government to reconcile the present crisis emanating from the congress call for total reversal of the pump price from the N145 to its former price of N86.50k.
Tinubu had told labour that it would be unwise to destroy the house it built, having been a strong ally in the APC victory.
Wabba, who told Tinubu at the meeting that NLC was not opposed to negotiation, however said the appeal would be tabled before the NEC, the organ which has the power whether to negotiate with government or not.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the NLC may call off its nationwide strike today after the meeting based on several appeals from several stakeholders.
It will be recalled that the Senate President, Abubakar Saraki met with NLC on Thursday evening after the Senate Committee on Labour had visited the NLC office earlier in the day.
Though the NLC after the meeting with the Senate President declared that the strike would linger for another two weeks, some insiders believed that the strike may need to be reviewed for more cohesiveness.
In Lagos, the strike recorded less success as residents moved around their normal business without any form of harassment or molestation.
A reliable source blamed the lethargy from some of the affiliates as the reason why the strike has not been very effective.
The source noted that if the members of the National Union of Roads Transport Workers, the civil service union, the teachers and others had pulled their weight, the Lagos success would have been the bench mark for other states.
“We also reliably gathered that some influential people in the state, in the ruling party had also influenced some area boys in Lagos to disrupt the protest, which was the reason we took off late to monitor the situation. The Alausa workers equally has been brainwashed by the APC governmennt.
“We understand that the country is tensed and the area boys may not understand the importance of what we are doing, as far as we are concerned we don’t want any distractions”, the source said.
Meanwhile legal luminary, Femi Falana has offered to handle the case that federal government may slam on the NLC in relation to the injunction restraining the Congress from embarking on the strike. – The Sun.
