Niger State government employees have proclaimed an indefinite strike in response to the government’s unwillingness to accomodate their demands.
Under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress state chapter, the civil servants made a number of demands of the state government, all of which the NLC claimed the state had broken.
It did, however, state that talks were still welcome.
The Congress announced that the strike would start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, in a letter dated February 19 and signed by the Chairman, Idrees Lafene, and the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Ibrahim Gana.
The letter was made available to newsmen on Tuesday.
It read in part “We are writing in furtherance to our earlier letter of ultimatum Ref no. OL/NS/040/GEN/Vol 4/29 dated 20/12/23 and the deadlock on settlement of issues as a result of negotiations with Niger State Government Committee.
“We wish to formally inform the Government that effective 8am on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 that Niger State workers shall commence an indefinite strike action until our demands are comprehensively met.
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“Meanwhile, we wish to reiterate that our doors are open for negotiation subject to : Conveyance of formal invitation, reversal of all appointments in dispute ie, Executive Directors Finance, Executive Directors Admin and Executive Directors Operations, Chairman, members and permanent commissioners of local Government Service Commission and Civil Service Commission, Directors General DGs of some agencies
“A clear statement by the government on payment of wage award.
“We also wish to stress that the idea of appointing Permanent Secretaries who are not eligible and within the service will no longer be tolerated by the Organised Labour.
“Accordingly we call on the government to withdraw the recent appointment of a Vice Principal on secondment as a Permanent Secretary to allow for career progression from within.
“We also call on the government to desist from victimising teachers and members from the educational sector as a result of the recent debate by some primary school pupils in Agaie LGA.”
Reiterating its support for the governor’s New Niger Agenda, organized labor pointed out that previous correspondence had received no answer.
