A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, under the aegis of Good Governance Forum has faulted the nationwide strike embarked on by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), News About Nigeria reports.
The Coalition of CSOs took their stand on the strike in a statement on Monday.
Recall that the Labour Congress embarked on a nationwide strike over inability of the tripartite committee to agree on the new minimum wage and hike in electricity tariff.
The National Coordinator and Secretary Dr. Mansir Jaafar Ndagi and Mr. Biodun Dele, in the statement jointly signed, appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to explore dialogue.
They expressed doubts that the strike will remain a peaceful one, stating that they fear that it will degenerate into anarchy; worsen economic situation and cause more hardship across the country.
They also stated that the Congress should accept the offer of the federal government, noting that only a few percentages in Nigeria are the ones that are working.
They opined that the Congress should avoid jacking up minimum wage to the rate that the state governments will not afford the pay.
“The fear arising from another rate of inflation should be matter for condition, should labour added money beyond the reasonable level.
“We are urging Federal government to increase the number of people that are giving conditional cash transfer, who are not in the working category,” they stated.
The Coalition, however, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene so as to avert a prolonged strike action that could ground the economy.
They appealed to the labour unions to shelve strike action immediately and go back to negotiating table with a mindset that majority of Nigerians are not civil servants.
