The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) will likely call off a planned nationwide stike today, Tuesday March 28.

This follows a meeting on Monday between NLC President, Joe Ajaero, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, Labour Minister, Chris Ngige and others.

Following the meeting, NLC president, Joe Ajaero said Labour no longer envisaged any problem since the CBN has started sending cash to the banks and Nigerians were now accessing their money, Channels News reports.

Ajaero further acknowledged that the meeting had taken place in the spirit of good dialogue.

The kernel for the contemplation of a nationwide strike by the NLC had been a lingering cash crunch which had caused significant discomfort to households and the national economy.

The cash crunch had come on the back of the CBN’s naira redesign policy which invalidated the country’s old N1,000, N500 and N200 denominations of currency notes. That decision was soon quarshed by the Supreme Court.

“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 complained, 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,” Ajaero was quoted as saying.

He added that Labour no longer envisaged a problem, since the CBN has started sending cash to the banks and Nigerians were now accessing their money.

Ajaero, however, urged the CBN to improve on their services, regretting the information gap created in the implementation of the Naira Redesign.

He stated that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NLC would meet Tuesday 28th of March, where members from states and Local Government Areas are expected to report on availability of cash, after which a decision would be taken on the strike.

Labour Minister, Chris Ngige assured 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 in a strike.

A statement by Olajide Oshundun, Director of Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, read: “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).”

In his remarks, the minister refuted the allegation of the NLC that his ministry did nothing about the matter.

He said on receiving the letter from NLC, he 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.

For his part, Emefiele said when he received the letter from the Labour Ministry, he called the President of the NLC to brief him on steps taken to alleviate the sufferings of the masses and equally made appointment and had discussion with NLC president and had fruitful discussions.

He said a large volume of funds was made available to the deposit money banks and they were directed to open their branches on Saturdays and Sundays and they complied under strict supervision by the CBN.

According to Emefiele, following the steps taken, Nigerians have been enjoying their money.

Earlier, Ajaero said they only got a reply to their second letter to the ministry and subsequently, an invitation to the meeting.