Civil Servants Begin Strike Monday Midnight

Civil servants in Niger State will begin a seven-day warning strike at midnight on Monday March 7, 2022.

The workers, according to information available to Prime Business Africa, will embark on the action in solidarity with the plight of primary school teachers and local government workers ”over payment of monthly salaries on percentage in the past six months.”

The directive, which was signed by Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Niger State, Comrade Yakubu Garba, was issued after an Executive Council meeting  held at the Labour House, Minna.

The notice charged all affiliate unions of the NLC across the 25 local councils in the state to proceed on the warning strike following the expiration of  a 14-day ultimatum  given to the state government.

Already, ASUU, a body representing all teaching staff of Nigerian universities, including those in Niger State are on a one-month warning strike over Federal Government’s consistent  failure to keep to  agreed terms on welfare, autonomy and infrastructure  issues in the nation’s higher institutions.

There are concerns that with the NLC  joining the fray in Niger State, things could grind to a halt in a state already being buffeted with insecurity, kidnapping and general hardship.

The last time this happened was on December 2, 2020, when  civil servants in Niger State  began an indefinite strike to protest 30 percent deduction from their June and November salaries that year. The action followed fruitless meetings with government officials.

This time around, the workers said the  seven-day warning strike was to press home their demand for payment of backlog of gratuity, refund of deductions from cooperatives, National Housing Fund, Unions’ check-off dues as well as third party deductions from workers’ salaries for the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS)