Nasarawa workers embark on indefinite strike

Workers on the payroll of the Nasarawa state government on Friday embarked on an indefinite strike after the state government failed to meet their demands before the expiration of the ultimatum of 12 am on Thursday it issued to government.

State secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mohammed Naibi, expressed delight with the level of compliance to the strike on Friday in Lafia, the state capital.

According to him, the strike became imperative after the expiration of the ultimatum given to the state government to meet the demands of the union before 12am on Thursday 11, 2017.

He added that “for the past six years, all civil servants in the state were stagnated, with no promotion, no annual increment, pensioners were not paid their full entitlements as at when due among others.”

Naibi said the doors of the union are still open for negotiation with the government and directed that workers should stay at home pending further directive.

He also urged workers to shun rumours from any quarters to the effect that the strike have been suspended, adding that workers should await further directive from the union leadership.

He therefore said that the union had given the state government enough time to resolve these issues, yet the government was playing politics with workers welfare.

Our correspondent reports that the indefinite strike action has received total compliance as government activities in the state have been paralyzed.

When The Daily Times visited some government ministries and schools among others in Lafia, they were deserted as offices were under lock and key.

This was even as officials of the organized labour in the state were going round all government ministries, departments and parastatals to check workers compliance to the directive.

Meanwhile, the state government has threatened to deal with any staff who fail to report to his or her duty post.

The state Head of Civil Service, Mr. Thomas Ogiri, called on workers to disregard any call for strike saying that there is disarray in NLC.

He added that any staff that failed to report to his duty post would be held liable.

He directed Permanent Secretaries, Chief Executives of Commissions, Boards and Parastatals to take attendance of their staff.

He added that failure to comply with the directive and absenteeism would be treated as abscondment.