Notwithstanding the two-day warning strike declaration by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the gates of the Oyo State Secretariat were open, with a sizeable number of workers turning up for work.
While some Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) had a sizeable complement of workers reporting for duty, there were MDAs where there were low numbers of workers present.
A squad of men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) was stationed at the main entrance into the State Secretariat, while some buses conveying civil servants did not arrive with their full complements.
Though activities did not look their usual boisterous nature at some sections of the Secretariat, activities at the House of Assembly were normal, with plenary even held on Tuesday.
In conversations with the Nigerian Tribune, some workers at the state Secretariat stated that there was no express directive from their unions mandating them to compulsorily stay away from their duty posts in compliance with the two-day warning strike.
The situation at the state Secretariat is not unconnected with the recent compromise between the labour movement and state government, after a one-week industrial action that culminated in the government clearing salary deductions, releasing promotion arrears, and attending to some of their other concerns.
However, banks around the state Secretariat were shut, with security men at the gate turning back customers who desired to access banking halls.
Similarly, the federal secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, was shut, with some Federal Workers Forum union leaders denying entry to a few workers who wanted to gain access into the Secretariat complex.
The National Coordinator of the Federal Workers Forum, Mr Andrew Emelieze, said it was out to enforce the two-day warning strike declared by the NLC.
Emelieze said: “There’s no worker that is not going through some form of suffering, workers feel disappointed, betrayed, and cheated by the system.
“In that sense, we have decided that federal secretariats across the country should be shut. Moreover, there is no worker who is not affected by the current hardship.
“Salaries have been stagnant to the extent that workers are finding it difficult to survive. On this basis, workers decided to embark on a warning strike.
“This is to let the government know that if federal workers are crying, what about other Nigerians who are not working?
“So, we are insisting that the federal government should listen to the cry of labour, do the needful, and make sure that workers’ demands are met.”
He said the federal government should be expecting further action from the Nigerian workers If it failed to respond to the workers’ demands in the next 14 to 21 days.
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