Stay at home. We are on strike – NLC tells workers

The Nigerian Labour Congress has ordered Nigerian workers to remain at home as the Nationwide strike commences today June 3.

 The NLC made this known in a post shared on its X handle this morning June 3. 

The decision of the Organised Labour to continue with its nationwide strike followed the deadlock meeting it had with the Federal Government and the National Assembly leaders over a new national minimum wage and reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariffs.

The labour unions argue that the current minimum wage of ₦30,000 can no longer cater to the wellbeing of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award which expired in April 2024, five years after the Minimum Wage Act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Act should be reviewed every five years to meet up with contemporary economic demands of workers.

Labour later handed the Federal Government a May 31 deadline for the a new minimum wage. On May 31, the Labour union declared a nationwide strike beginning from Monday, June 3, 2024 over the government committee’s inability to agree on a new minimum wage and reversal of electricity tariff hike.

During the failed talks with the government, Labour rejected three government’s offers, the latest being N60,000. Both the TUC and the NLC subsequently pulled out of negotiations, insisting on ₦497,000 as the new minimum wage.