The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has requested public sector workers to go on strike starting Wednesday next week.
Ajaero also directed affiliate unions within the Nigeria Labour Congress to be on standby for picketing exercises across all Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) branches nationwide.
Ultimatum for Cash Swap Policy Review
The directive follows an injunction issued by the Central Working Committee members of the NLC last week. The committee had criticized the cash swap policy of the Federal Government, saying it had caused a cash crunch in the country.
Picketing Exercises Across CBN Branches
Ajaero stated that picketing CBN branches was necessary because the government and CBN have not responded to address the situation. Despite the Supreme Court order allowing old notes to circulate with new notes until December 31, workers cannot access cash to pay fares or buy food.
In addition to the cash crunch, the apex labor union also criticized pricing irregularities in the petroleum sector, which was also a cause for concern.
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“Last week, we gave an ultimatum for the review of the cash crunch bedeviling the country, but we have discovered to our dismay, that as at this moment, not much effort has been made to ameliorate the situation.
The government is still foot dragging on these issues we raised. Based on this, we met again this morning to review our position and resolved that all CBN branches will be picketed by Wednesday next week,” Ajaero said. “Workers are directed to stay at home too because people cannot eat, workers can no longer go to the office, we have been pushed to the wall, we have decided to take our destiny in our hands, we have mobilized our workers for this exercise.”
Wow.