NLC Strike In Abuja: Banks, gov’t offices, national grid, shut down (Pictures)

June 3, 2024

NLC Strike In Abuja: Banks, gov’t offices, national grid, shut down (Pictures)

Story from Maryam SULEIMAN, Mohammed KUKURI, Abuja

The strike action initiated by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Monday, 3rd June, has taken full force in the nation’s capital with banks, offices and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) shutting down operations.

Neptune Prime went round some offices in CBD, Wuse and Aya within Abuja and noticed that workers have been denied entry into most of the buildings, while officials of the labour unions were seen hanging around such premises to enforce the strike action.

Neptune Prime observed that the labour unions have closed the main gate of the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters and placed their flag by the entrance to signify total enforcement of the strike action. Workers were seen going back home as early as 9:30am as they couldn’t gain entry to the building.

Similarly, TCN disclosed that its employees have intentionally powered down the national grid in alignment with the strike, Ndidi Mbah, TCN spokesperson, said Labour Unions have deactivated several transmission substations, resulting in a nationwide blackout.

Mbah added that power generation stations have been forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, exacerbating the situation.

Recall that the labour unions, in defiance to warnings from the federal government, declared an indefinite strike over government’s refusal to raise minimum wage from N60,000 amidst other concerns.

Earlier, Senate President Godswill Akpabio urged the unions to put the planned strike action on hold because it could severely impact the economy and further worsen the hardships faced by Nigerians.