The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has no agreement with the Federal Government to suspend its planned indefinite nationwide protest slated for on October 3, 2023. The NLC), stated this while reacting to a Wednesday claim that Olajide Oshundun, director of press for the ministry of labour and employment, was said to have announced that the NLC and the government entered into an agreement to suspend the proposed strike.
While Oshundun had since denied making such a statement, Benson Upah, NLC’s head of information and public affairs, in a statement on Thursday, also refuted the report.
Said Upah: “We do not have any agreement with the government to suspend the planned strike action. Neither do we have any date for a meeting with government that may lead to the suspension of the proposed strike”.
Upah said the NLC made it clear in its last meeting that the protest was beyond the office of the minister of labour and employment.
Commenting on the arrest and release of the executives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), in a statement, NLC condemned the ministry for describing the executives as factional leaders.
Read the statement: “They were lawfully elected into office. We still find it necessary to advise the police and those elements behind their travails to desist from this despicable and shameful conduct. They are advised to retrace their steps”.
The workers’ union thanked the ministry for securing the release of the executives but said if democracy was to be of meaning to Nigerians, then there was a need to resist the urge or temptation for impunity.
