Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has on Wednesday evening, May 19 suspended its five-day warning strike in Kaduna State that was riddled with controversy.
Announcing the suspension, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said the decision is to honour the invitation of the Federal Government on Thursday to mediate in the dispute between labour and the Kaduna State Government.
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NLC began the 5-day warning strike on Monday to push the state government to reverse its decision to sack thousands of workers.
The strike followed the disengagement of at least 7,000 workers across the 23 LGAs by Governor Nasir el-Rufai, who cited the state’s high wage bill as the reason.
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Reacting to the strike, that caused a shutdown of all economic activities in the state, the Governor declared Wabba and other members of the union wanted for economic sabotage, placing a bounty on them.
He later on ordered the sack of all nurses in the state below Grade Level 14 and lecturers of Kaduna State University (KASU) for joining the warning strike.
Read Also: El-Rufai Sacks Nurses, Lecturers For Joining Strike, Likens Labour Leaders To Bandits
El Rufai vowed they will be prosecuted, accusing them of unwanton destruction of public properties and disruption of peace.
Their actions, according to the Governor, were equivalent to the actions of bandits terrorising the state.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had said the Federal Government would intervene to bring the labour crisis rocking Kaduna State to a peaceful end.
Mohammed said the Federal Government was disturbed about the sudden turn of events in Kaduna State, stressing that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, is already working to broker a truce between the opposing sides.
He expressed;
The Federal Government is not folding its arms and already, the Minister of Labour and Employment has waded in and he is in touch with both the government of Kaduna State and the Labour.
In addition, the security apparatus all over the country have also taken pre-emptive measures to ensure that hoodlums don’t take advantage of this situation.
At the end of the day, all the parties have to come back to the drawing table to agree and hammer out concessions and agreements.
