…banks, courts, MDA’s closed
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has kicked-off a two-day warning strike, protesting the hardship caused the populace by the removal of fuel subsidy and the failure of the Federal Government to adequately address the matter.
Labour further says government broke off negotiations on the matter and failed to put in place some relief measures previously agreed upon.
The NLC in Edo State reportedly shut the gates to the State High Court premises in line with the declared strike.
Proceedings scheduled for today (Tuesday) at the Election Petitions Tribunals for the National Assembly and State House of Assembly were said to have been adjourned till Thursday.
Also in Benin, the most noticeable manifestation of the strike was the closure of commercial banks. Polaris Bank, GT Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank and other bank branches on Ekehuan Road were closed.
The same was the case for bank branches in other parts of Benin City, including Akpakpava Road in the commercial nerve centre.
Customers were howerver allowed access to the premises to make use of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the listed branches.
Open markets, shops and other trading establishments were however doing business as usual.
Reports reaching us from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and other major cities indicated that along with commercial banks, Federal Governmnet Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) were also shut down in observance of the strike.
A month ago, Organised Labour carried out protests in the Federal Cpital Territory, Abuja and some other cities across the country in protest against what it described as anti-people policies of the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
This followed a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government demanding “the immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies”, including the hike in petrol price, increase in public school fees and the release of the eight months withheld salary of university lecturers and workers, among others.
Labour also asked for an upward review of the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N200,000 per month, to make up for prevailing inflationary trends following on government’s recent policies.
NLC president Joe Ajaero, had said weeks back that the N5 billion approved by the Fderal Government for each state and the FCT to cushion the impact of fuel subsidy removal was inadequate.
