Despite Court Order, NLC, TUC Begin Nationwide Strike as ASUU, Railway, Maritime Workers Join

The economy woke to another shock on Tuesday as the industrial strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, began nationwide.

The development came as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Nigerian Railway Workers, and the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) mobilised their members, nationwide, to join the strike with immediate effect.

The strike was called to protest the November 1, 2023 physical assault of the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and some executives of the Congress in Owerri, the Imo State capital where organised labour had scheduled a statewide demonstration to protest non-payment of workers’ salaries as well as alleged general maltreatment of the state work force.

Denying the accusations, Governor Hope Uzodinma, who just won re-election, accused Ajaero of using the cover of organized labour to meddle in the state’s political affairs.

The Imo State Command of the Nigeria Police Force also denied ever brutalizing Ajaero, on November 1, saying the force merely took the labour leader into “protective custody”.

The action to protest the alleged brutalization of Ajaero and his men began, Tuesday, despite a subsisting court order that asked all parties in the crisis to maintain the status quo.

The strike may be a long haul going by what the TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, told the press on Monday that Labour would not back down until “government at all levels wake up to their responsibility.”

“We demanded that the Area Commander that led the police to carry out the brutalisation be relieved of his duties and prosecuted,” Osifo had said while listing labour’s demands. “We also asked that Governor Uzodimma’s aide on Special Duties, Chinasa Nwaneri, who led the touts should be arrested and prosecuted.

“We gave an ultimatum that initially expired Wednesday last week, but on the eve of that expiration, we had a joint session of the NLC and TUC and gave an additional one week to see if the government will be responsive. But instead of the government coming out strongly to condemn this criminality and stand on the side of justice, some people in government were running their mouths and making all kinds of statements.”

However, the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, has asked organised labour to respect the National Industrial Court (NIC) pronouncement that ordered the unions to put the plan to embark on the nationwide strike on hold.

Oyerinde, who spoke to The Guardian, said: “Any member of the labour movement that is not satisfied with the NIC order should approach the court to plead their case. It can happen to any of us, we can be employer/employee today, labour or government tomorrow and NIC has shown a very strong level of impartiality over the years.”