Only Reversal Of New Fuel Price Will Shelve Pending Strike – NLC Insists

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared that the only condition under which it would back down on its scheduled Wednesday industrial action is for the Federal Government and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to reverse the new fuel price regime and return to status quo to allow for amicable discussion.

It specifically said that the Congress stand together with an unshakeable resolve to prosecute the strike come Wednesday, except the NNPC and Federal Government do the needful.

The NLC which stated these on Sunday, June 4, 2023 while reacting to some media report that it might suspend its scheduled nationwide strike, condemned the attempt to polarise the Congress along ethnic or regional lines over a national issue which affect ordinary Nigerians.

In a statement on Sunday, the Head of Information and Public Affairs of the NLC, Mr. Benson Upah, particularly said that it was laughable and a desperate attempt by enemies of the people to polarise the NLC along ethnic or regional lines over a national issue.

The NLC further said that the scenario only plays in the imagination of the sponsors of such propaganda stressing that the Nigeria Labour Congress continues to be the biggest pan-Nigerian organisation united by a common vision/mission and shared national values.

The NLC statement further said; “On the looming strike, we want to assure that all the affiliate unions of the Congress stand together with an unshakeable resolve to prosecute, come Wednesday, except the NNPC and Government do the needful.

“Whereas, primordial sentiments such as religion, region or ethnicity may be refuge for some, at the Nigeria Labour Congress, they have no place.

“What counts for us are issues such as the mindless and criminal increase in the pump price of PMS, whose burden will be borne by the already impoverished communities of the poor across Nigeria.

“The burden of the malevolent policy would not be borne by other segments of the country to the exclusion of the North or South-West, hence, there is no reason for those regions to back out of the strike,” the Congress said.