The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which staged a two-day nationwide warning strike on September 5 and 6, has vowed to continue its strike indefinitely if the federal government does not grant its demand by the end of the allotted 21 days.

The National Executive Council of the labor organization voted to go on an indefinite strike after a provided 21-day ultimatum ends in a week, according to NLC President Joe Ajaero.

The union wrote to the federal government on September 1 with the following message: “If the government fails to provide the appropriate responses to our demands, we encourage you to maintain your steadfast resolve.”

If we are need to launch an indefinite nationwide strike, the same fervor and dedication that motivated this warning strike will be crucial.

NLC insisted on the two-day warning strike to demonstrate their discontent with the government’s lukewarm attitude towards mitigating the suffering caused by the removal of fuel subsidies.

The union also accused the government of following what it called “bad policies” of President Bola Tinubu’s new administration.

Giving an update on plans for the proposed indefinite strike if the government does not meet their demands, the NLC stated on Tuesday that the industrial action could begin as early as next week, resulting in an indefinite shutdown of commercial and economic activities across the country.

Christopher Onyeka, National Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, told The Punch that it was not fair for the government to give a bag of rice to a dozen residents while reportedly giving National Assembly members N100 million in palliative care.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) are calling for palliatives, tax reductions and allowances for public sector workers, and a revision of the minimum wage.

Despite the FG’s vow to reorganise the framework for engaging with organised labour on palliatives, the eight-week timeline set for the process’s completion expired in August with nothing happening achieved.

According to Onyeka, the union would not even make a signal to the administration before the strike began.

“We sent the letter to the Federal Government on September 1, 2023, so by September 22, 2023, the 21-day ultimatum will end.

“We have made it clear that the Federal Government has abandoned and absconded from the table for negotiation; that government is no longer negotiating with Nigerians, and there is no good faith negotiation that is going on.

“President Bola Tinubu promised Nigerians on his own on the television with the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, that he was going to restructure the committees, but he did not do that, and since then, the committees have not met, and there has been no negotiation that is on-going. As it is, NLC is not negotiating with the government,

“Can you see the insult that a ward would share a bag of rice and the government calls that a palliative?” Onyeka asked.

It is an insult to Nigerians that the government handed legislators N70 billion and that each legislator receives more than N100 million in a country where Nigerians are struggling.

“The FG is buying cars and houses worth over N100 million for each individual, and Nigerians are acting as if this is normal.”

“The NLC urges Nigerians to join forces because they cannot do it alone.

’When NLC calls for action, people should come out; they should because it is a collective effort to make the government yield to the desires and the interests of Nigerians”, Onyeka stated further.