The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has stated the reasons for calling off its planned nationwide indefinite strike: to protest the scarcity of naira notes across the country. The NLC had scheduled to begin an indefinite stay-at-home strike and picketing at the CBN headquarters and its branches across the country, starting yesterday, to protest against the CBN’s Currency Redesign policy that had inflicted hardship on Nigerians and businesses.
However, the leaders of the NLC, after a meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) on Tuesday, suspended the planned industrial action. In a statement, NLC President Joe Ajaero gave reasons for the suspension, stating:
“It has become important that we inform Nigerians of the reasons behind our decision to pause the proposed nationwide strike and picketing of the Headquarters and offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) across the nation.”
Ajaero explained that the strike was called due to the ill-conceived, and poorly executed Currency redesign policy of the CBN. The policy had brought untold suffering on the people and workers across the length and breadth of the federation. The NLC demanded that measures ar taken to make cash available to all Nigerians. Including expanding and deepening the CBN’s sorting and issuing operations to release cash to all bank branches nationwide.
NLC – NEC Meeting
The NLC held two sessions of its NEC to discuss the issues and review the level of compliance with their demands of the CBN. In the meeting held on Tuesday, the NEC received live reports from all the federation states and local governments on the cash situation in their different locations. Based on the information received, the NLC observed that the CBN had made quantifiable efforts to reduce the current cash scarcity in the country, and many banks had embarked on weekend banking as agreed.
However, cash scarcity persists in rural communities and towns, and banks have continued to ration access to cash. This is limiting financial transactions. After reviewing the situation, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria resolved to suspend the proposed nationwide strike. The strike was planned for Wednesday, March 29, 2023, since a sizeable increase in cash is available nationwide.
The NLC set up a joint committee at the national and state levels to monitor and ensure sustainable compliance by the CBN. The NLC urged all Nigerians to work together to roll back all anti-workers and people’s policies of the government.
