The Federal Government has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to halt its upcoming two-day warning strike.
Monday in Abuja, the appeal was made by Simon Lalong, the minister of labour and employment.
Lalong argued that the strike will be damaging and undo the progress the government has already made.
Additionally, he requested that the NLC give the new administration some time to get organised and deal with the problems the union had presented.
“It has become necessary to appeal to the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to suspend its intended two-day warning strike, as such action would be detrimental to the gains already being recorded on our course to securing a greater future for Nigerian workers and citizens at large,” Lalong said.
In addition, I would ask that the Nigeria Labour Congress’s top officials give the current administration some time to settle in and deal with the local problems comprehensively.
The newly appointed minister said the federal government wants to comprehensively address the problems brought up by the NLC leadership in the coming weeks after being briefed on them.
Lalong, however, gave the Nigerian workers assurances that the government would not take them for granted and would continue to pursue policies intended to generate a significant amount of jobs, stressing that the government could not accomplish this in the presence of industrial discontent.
“As a result, I would like to take this occasion to remind Nigerian workers that their government would never take them for granted or fail to recognise and value their help and understanding.
In addition to looking into the immediate issues brought on by the government’s actions, we will continue to promote policies targeted at creating a lot of jobs in all areas of the economy. We are unable to accomplish this in a setting devoid of industrial tranquilly.
The minister added that although the NLC was required by law to have given the ministry notice of the impending strike, the ministry had not received that notice, a meeting with labour leaders will be arranged on Monday afternoon to try and prevent it.
