- NLC NEC Meets to Evaluate Situation, Decision
THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige on Monday met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC in order to avert a nationwide strike and picketing of CBN branches across the country.
The NLC had last week after its organ meetings held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) issued a seven-day ultimatum to CBN to resolve the naira scarcity crisis in the country or face a national strike and picketing by workers.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, had threatened that the NLC would commence the actions by Wednesday, March 29 if the naira scarcity crisis had not been resolved at the expiration of the ultimatum on Tuesday (today).
Ngige subsequently invited the apex bank leadership and the NLC to a meeting on Monday to resolve the matter. This was disclosed in a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun.
“The ten-man delegation of the NLC was led by the President, Comrade Joe Ajaero and the General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja while the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was accompanied by two Deputy Governors, Kingsley Obiora (Economic Policy) and Ade Shonubi (Organised Private Sector),” the statement read.
In his remarks, the minister refuted the allegation of the NLC that his ministry did nothing about the matter, the statement revealed, stating that upon receiving the letter from NLC, the minister forwarded the same to the CBN governor before travelling out of the country for an International Labour Organisation (ILO) Governing Board meeting and directed the Permanent Secretary and Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations Department to follow up.
On his own part, the CBN governor said upon receiving the letter from the Labour Ministry, he called the President of NLC to brief him on steps taken to alleviate the sufferings of the masses and equally made appointment and had discussion with NLC president.
Emefiele disclosed that a large volume of funds had been made available to the deposit money banks with a directive to open their branches on Saturdays and Sundays.
He said they complied under strict supervision by the CBN and that the steps so far taken would alleviate the challenges that had been faced over the past few months.
Comrade Ajaero had earlier said in his remark the NLC only got a response to CBN’s second letter to the ministry and subsequently, an invitation to the meeting. He said they no longer envisage any problem, since CBN has started sending cash to the banks and Nigerians were now accessing their money, he acknowledged that meetings have taking place in the spirit of good dialogue.
He, however, urged the CBN to improve on their services, regretting the information gap created in the implementation of the naira redesign.
“NLC could not have stopped CBN from taking good decisions and implementing them in the interest of the nation. If stakeholders were invited and briefed on the policy, when the people complain, NLC would explain everything to them. But in this case, the CBN did it alone. Moreover, it is a wrong time for administering such a national policy,” Comrade Ajaero was quoted as saying.
He assured that the National Executive Council (NEC) of NLC will meet on Tuesday, 28th March, 2023 where members from states and local government areas are expected to report on availability of money, after which a decision will be taken on the strike.
The minister, however, assured all that whether the NLC is embarking on the dispute of right or dispute of Interest, the dispute has been apprehended and can only result to more dialogue and not strike.
