Barely 24 hours after members of the Niger State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress commenced an indefinite strike, the labour union and the state government have reached an agreement.
The union had on Tuesday announced an indefinite strike with effect from Wednesday after the state government failed to meet the workers’ demands.
Following the strike action, which grounded the state as most public offices remained shut and civil servants failed to turn up for work, the state governor, Mohammed Bago, called a meeting with the leadership of the unions.
The meeting, which was held in the council chamber of the Niger State Government House on Wednesday, ended with the labour leaders and the governor singing the labour solidarity anthem indicating that the meeting ended on a pleasant note.
At the end of the closed-door meeting on Wednesday night, the state NLC chairman, Idrees Lafene, and Bago addressed newsmen.
“We have met and resolved all the issues that were raised and as it is now, we have an agreement on ground with the government. As I said, we have resolved all the issues raised. For instance, on the issue of wage award, the government has agreed to pay N20,000 across board for state and local government workers by March.
“Then on leave grant, it was agreed to be spread for six months. It will be paid once for now. On the reversal of the appointments, a tripartite committee was set up to look at the issue, comprising of the House of Assembly, the executive, and the Labour,” Lafene said.
He affirmed that he would speak with members of labour on the outcome of the meeting and it is only the inion members who could call off the strike.
The governor, however, said with some air of certainty that the labour would call off the strike since all the contentious issues had been resolved.
He said, “We have resolved, we are assuring Nigerians and Nigerlites alike that all the issues that were raised have been resolved. The arrears have been resolved, most of the issues were inherited, the government had reneged on some of their promises but now we have resolved. We have a very solid agreement that we have both signed between the Labour and the state government.
“All the issues raised have been resolved and as he rightly said, understanding the need to move forward. For instance, the issue of leave grant, leave grant is no more in vogue, it is now a consolidated salary unfortunately some people were paid in 2019 others were not paid.
“The second issue is the appointments we have made. It is the nomenclature not the appointments. A tripartite committee has been created with the state government, the state Assembly and the Labour to look at the laws and see a way around it and come out with a better resolution. Then any other issue have been resolved and Labour is expected to call of their strike this night so that we can resume work tomorrow.”
