Ogun Workers Call Off Two-week Old Strike

Organised labour in Ogun on Wednesday suspended its two-week strike, Concise News gathers. Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council of the state (JNC), Abiodun Olakanmi, announced the suspension in Abeokuta.

Olakanmi in his address at the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat, directed state civil servants to return to work on Thursday.

The development followed a tripartite meeting held on Wednesday in Abeokuta between officials of the state government and representatives of labour at the state and national level.

The meeting commenced at 10am at the Governor’s Office and ended at 6pm with the signing of a MoU.

The indefinite strike action started on October 20 to protest non-remittance of 12 months deductions from workers’ salaries among other claims.

The meeting parties agreed to payment of outstanding deductions on or before May, 2017.

The parties also agreed to immediately clear off one year arrears of check-off dues. Meanwhile, government should set aside N200 million every other month for payment of outstanding gratuities effective November.

Parties at the meeting also agreed to the immediate release of 2015 promotion result. The meeting reached an agreement for quarterly meeting between the government and labor to promote industrial harmony.

The meeting parties agreed to set up a joint committee of both government and labor to consider issues concerning the contributory pension scheme. The committee is to submit the report to the government within 90 days.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who also addressed newsmen after the meeting, apologized to all Nigerians over the industrial action in Ogun.

He said that as a responsible employer of labor, the government realized its responsibility to pay salaries to its employees.

The governor said that the state was second only to Lagos State in terms of regular payment of salaries.

He, however, lamented that the harsh economic realities in the country had constrained the government in fully discharging its responsibilities to its workers.

“We have the best civil service in the whole of Nigeria. No governor, dead or alive in Ogun, had romanced or massaged the ego of the workers as I have done,” he said.

NLC chairman dismassal

On the issue of the dismissal of the state chairman of NLC, Akeem Ambali, and 15 other members of the union, Amosun said that it is not connected with the issue of the strike.

“The government did not sack the affected workers because of strike, but because they mixed work with politics.

“We shall, however, see what can be done,” he said.

The governor gave an assurance that the government would implement all the agreements reached at the meeting.