Isa Tijjani, a former Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, has said that incessant strikes by labour unions pose a significant threat to the nation’s economy.
The former Vice President of the NLC made this position known at a news conference on Saturday in Kano.
According to Tijjani, there are alternatives to strike, urging labour unions to explore them in resolving their differences with the government.
He said: “The country is in a critical situation, and incessant strike and protest will injure the economy.
“When the economy is in tatters, everybody will suffer because we all depend on Internally Generated Revenue.
“Recession is everywhere.
“We are not currently good.
“The economy cannot afford a nationwide strike at this time.”
On wage increase, Tijjani said the N485,000 minimum wage proposed by the unions was no longer feasible in view of the economic realities in the country.
He also accused the NLC leadership of alleged moves to plunge the country into economic and political crisis over excessive calls for industrial action.
He said: “The NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, is allegedly up to something in his frequent calls for strike even when clearly the Federal Government is on top of the particular situation they are talking about.
“Bargaining power is not always 100 percent, but as a pressure group, if you have 62 percent of what you are looking for, you then negotiate and allow peace to reign.
“Today, the integrity of NLC is at stake because they deviated from their main job of protecting the collective rights of Nigerians.”
