Civil servants under the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Niger State announced on Tuesday that they would embark on an indefinite strike over the failure of the state government to meet their demands, News About Nigeria reports.
According to a letter addressed to the governor of the state, Mohammed Bago, which was signed by the state’s NLC chairman, Idrees Lafene, and the chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Ibrahim Gana, the strike would begin at 8 a.m. on Wednesday (tomorrow).
In the statement, they explained that the Niger State Chapter of the NLC had presented some demands to the state government, but it had failed to meet any of them.
In the letter to the governor, the organised labour in the state, however, noted that they are still open to negotiation with the government.
The statement partly reads, “We wish to reiterate that our doors are open for negotiation subject to: conveyance of formal invitation; reversal of all appointments in dispute, i.e., Executive Directors Finance, Executive Directors Admin and Executive Directors Operations, Chairman, members and permanent commissioners of the local Government Service Commission and Civil Service Commission, Directors General DGs of some agencies.
“A clear statement by the government on payment of the wage award.”
The workers also noted that the idea of appointing permanent secretaries who are not eligible and within the service will no longer be tolerated by organised labour.
They therefore charged the state government to, with immediate effect, terminate the recent appointment of a vice principal on secondment as a permanent secretary to allow for career progression from within.
Speaking further, the workers noted that although they are committed to Governor Bago’s New Niger Agenda, they will not keep quiet until their demands are met.
