NLC has no reason to Hold protest – Ngige Insists

The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige says the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has no justification for its planned nationwide protest.

According to Ngige who spoke to journalists on Wednesday, the planned protest is against international labour practices.

Recall that the NLC had earlier announced a two-day nationwide protest scheduled for July 26 and 27 in solidarity with the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has been on since February 14 of this year.

However, Ngige said it is wrong for any such protest to take place while negotiations are still going on, adding that he’ll be surprised if the NLC leadership goes ahead with the planned protest.

“It is a very incongruous situation I must tell you. Why? NLC is on the table of the discussion. They are there. I invited them as the head of the federation to which ASUU belongs, to which SSANU belongs, to which NAAT belongs,” he said.

“I invited them. And so, they are on the table as their senior partner. That’s one. Two, we have a National Labour Advisory Council inaugurated in January 2021. It is an ILO instrument, an ILO architecture for labour unions, governments,

“I invited them. And so, they are on the table as their senior partner. That’s one. Two, we have a National Labour Advisory Council inaugurated in January 2021. It is an ILO instrument, an ILO architecture for labour unions, governments, and the private sector to come together at any given time.

“So, we’ve just finished our meeting in March, and this issue was tabled before them. And the NLC is in NLAC, the National Labour Advisory Council, and much more importantly, the head of NLC, Nigeria, has an affiliate of workers federation, worldover called International Trade Union Congress.

“So, I will be surprised if he’s going ahead with his NEC to do a demonstration, knowing fully well that that is not permissible in international labour parlance.”

The position of Ngige aligns with that of the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed who while speaking to State House Correspondents on Wednesday at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, described the planned protest as unlawful.

However, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has insisted that it would be carrying on with its planned nationwide strike to force the Federal Government to reach an agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end the ongoing strike.