ACF asks labour unions not to go on strike

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other trade unions to stop their proposed strike in the interest of the country.

This was even as the forum said the labour unions should consider the fact that the 2019 general election is by the corner.

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The ACF, in a statement issued signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim Biu, said it sympathised with the Nigerian workers who continue to toil in an increasingly difficult economic environment.

“We also support whatever they or their unions legitimately do to improve on their welfare.

“However, ACF wishes to draw the attention of the labour and trade unions to the fact that the public is getting extremely alarmed by the risky method they have chosen to fight for the welfare of their members.

“It will be recalled that ASUU, ASUP and other unions in our tertiary institutions have been on total, comprehensive and indefinite strike almost 100 days to our general elections. And now, about 40 days to the elections, the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) is threatening not only to call its members out on a total and prolonged strike but to mobilise them to paralyse the country.

“The ACF is very much worried and concerned with this threat to industrial peace and harmony, and hereby appeals to the leadership of NLC and other trade unions to place the interest of the country above all other considerations.

“Workers’ welfare can only be improved if the country is working and the general election that is at the heart of our democracy is allowed to take place in a peaceful environment,” the forum said.

‘We cannot afford to truncate our hard earned democracy at this material time when all hands are are expected to be on deck to move the country forward.

‘We therefore urge the labor leaders to remain patriots  and prevail on their members to suspend the proposed total strike and for ASUU and ASUP we appeal to call of the strike and return to the negotiation table.

‘ ACF urges all interested parties to note that the issue of minimum wage transcends all sectors of the economy, hence the need for workers in both public, private sectors and governments to come together and agree on what the economy can accommodate, after which a bill to that effect can be transmuted to the National Assembly forthwith.

‘We already have so many challenges in the polity, economy and security which requires collective efforts to restore our faith in both our democracy and the country. We therefore appeal for understanding and call on all parties to shift grounds.