NLC, TUC suspend planned strike for 30 days | FG commits to procure CNG buses; visit refineries - Naira Economist

State House
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) has suspended the planned indefinite nationwide strike.

The labour bodies announced the suspension of the planned strike which was scheduled to take off on October 3, after a meeting with the representatives of the federal government at the State House, on Monday.

The labour leaders reached the agreement to shelve the planned action in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) issued and signed by Joe Ajaero, NLC president, Festus Osifo, NUC president and representatives of the federal government, Simon Lalong, minister of labour and employment, at the end of the meeting.

The federal government on Sunday called an emergency meeting to engage the unions as a measure to avert the nationwide strike, which is meant to be a protest against the removal of the petrol subsidy and economic hardship in the country.

N35000 wage increment from September

At the end of the four-hour meeting on Sunday, President Bola Tinubu approved N35,000 as the provisional wage increment for all categories of federal workers.

N100bn for CNG Buses
It was also agreed that the government would allocate N100 billion for the procurement of high-capacity compressed natural gas (CNG) buses for mass transit in Nigeria.

“Provisions are also being made for an initial 55,000 CNG conversion kits to kick start an auto gas conversion programme, whilst work is ongoing on state-of-the-art CNG stations nationwide. The rollout aims to commence by November with pilots across 10 campuses nationwide,” the MoU reads.

Visit to refineries
They also agreed that a joint visitation would be made to the refineries to ascertain their rehabilitation status while all parties committed to henceforth abide by the dictates of social dialogue in all future engagements.