The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership have decided to suspend the planned indefinite nationwide strike. This decision was made following a meeting with representatives of the federal government at the State House on Monday, just ahead of the scheduled strike date of October 3.
The agreement to halt the planned strike was reached and documented in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Joe Ajaero, NLC president, Festus Osifo, NUC president, and government representatives, including Simon Lalong, the minister of labour and employment.
The federal government had called for an emergency meeting with the unions to address the impending nationwide strike, which was intended as a protest against the removal of the petrol subsidy and the economic challenges in the country.
During a four-hour meeting held on Sunday, President Bola Tinubu approved a provisional wage increment of N35,000 for all categories of federal workers.
The MoU issued after the Monday meeting outlined several key agreements:
- The payment of the N35,000 wage increment would commence from September, with the expectation that a new national minimum wage would be signed into law.
- A minimum wage committee would be established within one month from the date of the agreement.
- The government would allocate N100 billion for the procurement of high-capacity compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for mass transit in Nigeria. This move is part of a broader effort to promote cleaner energy and transportation solutions.
- Provisions were made for the initial distribution of 55,000 CNG conversion kits to launch an auto gas conversion program. State-of-the-art CNG stations would also be developed nationwide, with the rollout scheduled to begin in November, starting with pilot programs at 10 campuses across the country.
- The issue of outstanding salaries and wages of tertiary education workers in federal-owned educational institutions would be referred to the Ministry of Labour and Employment for further engagement.
This agreement marks a temporary resolution to the labor dispute and aims to address key concerns raised by the labor unions.