- Businesses run in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Ekiti
- Full compliance in Niger, Edo, Enugu, Port Harcourt
- Compliant level excites Ajaero
- Govt, Labour to resume talks
Many workers in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies(MDAs) yesterday complied with the two-day warning strike directed by the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC).
But some who turned up at their duty posts in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Anambra, Ondo, Gombe, Kaduna and Edo were chased away by NLC officials dispatched to monitor the compliance level.
Some state civil servants did reported for work while others did not.
While aviation and many bank workers shunned the strike directive, their counterparts in various courts across the country stayed away from their duty posts.
Trading on the floor of of the Nigeria Exchange also went on unhindered.
The first day of the strike was, however, generally peaceful, a development that enabled private sector workers to go about their businesses.
NLC President Joe Ajaero and Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja had on Friday declared the strike over what they termed Federal Government’s failure to engage stakeholders within the organised labour on efforts to cushion the effects of petrol removal on the poor masses.
The Federal Government and Trade Union Congress (TUC), a key arm of organised labour, denounced the strike as premature.
The Presidency also cautioned the NLC on Monday against mixing Labour issues with politics.
FCT, which has the largest concentration of federal workers was the worst hit by the strike, which the NLC described as a ”resounding success..”
At the Federal Ministry of Finance, NLC officials in a white Toyota Hiace stormed the building and went from office- to office ringing a bell and chasing out workers who did not want to be part of the strike.
Outside the ministry’s gate, motorists attempting to enter the ministry were sent back by the unionists who shut the gates
Only very few workers were seen at the Federal Secretariat, which hosts most of the federal ministries.
Also, at the Radio House, the gate was locked by NLC officials, who prevented workers from entering the premises.
It was observed that some filling stations in the FCT and many banks were closed. A few banks, however, opened to customers
Lagos
Banks and filling stations operated in full swing in spite of the strike directive. Other private business operators, including transporters and traders, were also unconcerned about the industrial action.
Read Also: NLC strike: Lagos banks defy service withdrawal directive
In spite of the downpour, shops at Mile 12 Market, Ketu Market and Oyingbo Market opened for business.
But members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers(NURTW), National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees and Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) stayed away from work.
Joy Onome, Public Relations Officer of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), said they could not transact any business because the gates to the ports were shut down by MWUN leaders.
Onome, who noted that containers that were meant to be dropped for examination did not take place, lamented that the same might happen today.
The aviation unions that opted out of the strike are the Association of Nigeria Professionals, ANAP, National Union of Air Transport Employees, NUATE, National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE and the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, ATSSSAN.
They said they could not afford to jeopardise the industry’s safety record before the global community.
Oyo
The state secretariat was open. A good percentage of the state workers were seen alighting from government buses at the appropriate time. But some of them had to leave after noon, seeing that there was no full service.
Commercial banks, the Federal Secretariat in the state and other federal institutions were not open for service.
At the Federal Secretariat, palm fronds were placed at different parts of the gate to symbolise no entry.
Institutions such as the National Horticulture Institute and Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) FRIN that were visited by our correspondents in the Ibadan metropolis had their gates shut.
Bank workers also reported for work early but they did not open for business for security reasons.
Some union leaders under the aegis of the Federal Workers Forum were seen at the entrance preventing the few workers who reported for work from entering the premises.
The gates of the Oyo State High Court/ Magistrates Courts at Ring Road and Iyaganku, the Federal High Court, Court of Appeal and National Industrial Court were also shut to the public.
The Nation observed that only a few nurses were on duty at the Adeoyo State Hospital and Oni and Sons Children’s Hospital at Ring Road in Ibadan.
NLC chairman in the state Kayode Martins expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance.
Ondo
Workers shunned the strike directive and reported for work at the state secretariat in Akure, the state capital.
But they were chased away by union officials.
However, some banks opened to their customers. Most private business operators, especially commercial bus operators and fuel marketers, operated in spite of the strike.
The state NLC leaders accused the Head of Service, Kayode Ogundele, of causing an industrial crisis by threatening to sanction any worker who joined
Osun
In the state, workers below Grade Level 7 complied with the strike directive while senior staff members reported for work.
Some of the junior workers were seen in the early hours of yesterday loitering around the entrance of the state secretariat in Osogbo. They later returned home.
However, the gates of the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) along Osogbo/Ikirun Road were shut by some unionists.
Further checks revealed that some banks were not open.
Caretaker Chairman of state NLC, Modupe Oyedele, said: “There is strict compliance with the warning strike under the umbrella of NLC, all the affiliate unions joined the strike.”
*Ogun
Most workers stayed away from work in the state capital where NLC officials moved around monitoring compliance.
NLC state Chairman Hameed Ademola said that the workers who showed up at the state secretariat were TUC members.
“We are on strike, the mobilisation was intense and the adherence very encouraging. There is no protest, no road walk. The directive was strictly ‘Sit – at – Home.’
“We have gone around monitoring offices and if you saw any person in the offices, it is a TUC member. We are serious and we are in our different homes,” he said.
His TUC counterpart, Akeem Lasisi, said the union distanced itself from the strike because it was a one-sided show.
“The warning strike was declared by NLC with very good intentions but without the input or involvement of TUC leadership,’ he said.
*Ekiti
At the state secretariat in Akure, civil servants and public health workers turned up for work at their different ministries and departments. Only a few MDAs were under lock and key.
*Kwara
In Ilorin, some commercial banks opened their gates to customers in the morning but later closed probably out of fear.
They initially claimed that they did not receive directives from their head offices not to open.
Checks revealed that the gates of the Kwara State Secretariat at High Area were open. But only a small percentage of civil servants were at their duty posts.
Delta
At the Federal Secretariat in Asaba, many offices were shut but a few offices were open for business.
The offices that opened included the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Federal Fire Service, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Youths Service Corp (NYSC), Legal Aid Council, National Business and Technical Education Board NABTEB) and National Teachers Institute
The few workers present were seen discussing the situation in groups
The situation was no different at the Chike Edozien Secretariat as workers were seen milling around. .In Warri, patients were left stranded at the Central Hospital due to the strike.
At the Children’s Ward, parents who brought their children for treatment looked despaired on being informed that doctors were not on the ground to attend to them.
Those on admission were discharged and referred to the emergency unit of the hospital or to the Delta State Teaching Hospital, Oghara.
Plateau
Workers, including medical personnel, also stayed at home. Only private sector workers operated.
A visit to the Federal Secretariat and Joseph Gomwalk (state) secretariat showed their gates under lock and key.
Although there was no sign of a threat to peace in the state, the Police Command mobilised its personnel to some strategic places in Jos, the state capital.
The Commissioner of Police, Julius Alawari told The Nation that the command would “not allow any protest, road walk or procession”.
*Enugu
Some of the Ministries were closed while those open had mostly senior civil servants on duty.
But in those that opened, workers seen were mostly senior civil servants, who went about their duties with calm.
While most banks opened for services, the state High Court complex was under lock and key.
A litigant at the state High Court, Chidi Okoye, lamented that the strike affected court proceedings.
”My case has suffered undue adjournment due to strike actions for three months now,” Okoye said.
* Kaduna
At the Kaduna State Secretariat on Independence Way, personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were sighted manning the gate to ensure law and order
Also, commercial banks, courts and other public offices were shut down by the striking labour union leaders.
*Rivers
While the Government Secretariat in Port Harcourt was deserted by the workers, political appointees of the government were seen in their offices performing their tasks.
Edo
There was full compliance with the strike in the state with the federal and state secretariats shut down.
Public hospitals, courts, and other establishments in Benin were also affected.
The strike forced the National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Benin to reschedule two judgments that it ought to have delivered yesterday.
NLC Chairman in the state, Odion Olaye, who described the strike as total, said: “NLC does not need the support of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) to be able to send its messages to the Federal Government, and cause the needed change.”
* Bayelsa
There was also total compliance with the strike in the state by NLC members.
The union’s chairman in the state, Simon Barnabas, said: “We joined the warning strike. I am monitoring it with my team to ensure total compliance. It is a warning strike. We embarked on the strike ahead of a total action at the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum we have given the Federal Government.
“We are on the two-day warning strike to agitate for the Federal Government to ensure that the nation’s refineries work, and to press for other conditions of services that will help to ameliorate the sufferings of the people, including workers, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and other very urgent needs.”
* Akwa Ibom
Government and banking activities in the state were also crippled.
As early as 6am, the NLC leadership mobilised workers to block the gates of the state secretariat, known as the Idongesit Nkanga secretariat. Government House and Secretariat Annex along Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo.
Commercial banks were shut to customers with workers staying away from work.
Labour leaders embarked on a peaceful protest along Abak Road from the state secretariat from 10am, chanting solidarity songs, before returning to the take-off point at 11 am.
* Cross River
The strike also seemed to succeed in the state with the NLC chairman Gregory Olayi, describing the strike as “total and very successful.”
Olayi spoke after inspecting offices to see if workers heeded the directive.
He said: “We are happy that we succeeded in making members stay at home for the warning strike. There is nobody in any of the offices. We are standing right in front of the office of the Head of Service, Cross River State; there is no worker in the offices, with the gates also shut.”
*Kano
Officials of the state branch of the NLC began the strike by closing down the headquarters of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
Most of the banks were not opened for business. The Audu Bako Secretariat, which houses most of government ministries was also shut down.
However, other businesses, including markets and filling stations were open.
The government pleaded with the NLC’s Kano chapter to relax the strike in sectors that provide essential services.
*Youth Party to NLC: don’t worsen hardship
Meanwhile, the Youth Party (YP) urged the NLC not to worsen the hardship caused by the removal of petrol subsidy through its warning strike.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary Ayodele Adio, the party urged Labour to take a pragmatic approach to resolving the issues.
“The Youth Party would like to call on the NLC and its allied unions to apply the pressure of their actions with a human face, as their ultimate goal should be to ameliorate the hardship being faced by Nigerians and not to worsen it.
“We caution the NLC to take a creatively pragmatic approach that would not compound the economic hardship currently being experienced by the masses,” the party said.
On how to address the post-subsidy removal pain, the party stressed that focus on public transportation to reduce cost of living should be immediate.