The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), reacting to criticisms made against its proposed strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday, has made it clear that the scheduled peaceful protest is not intended to undermine the Courts.
The NLC’s Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, who stated this in an issued statement, noted that the planned protest is to express their ‘members’ right’, which even the courts are obliged to uphold.
The umbrella Labour body issued the clarification following the Statement from the Federal Ministry of Justice on the issue, saying: “As the right to strike is recognised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s supervisory bodies as an intrinsic corollary of the right to organise protected by Convention No. 87, deriving from the right of workers’ organisations to formulate their programmes of activities to further and defend the economic and social interests of their members.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs B.E. Jedy-Agba, in her Keynote address delivered at a one-day Stakeholders Consultative Forum held in Abuja recently, stressed that the Federal Government was well aware of the fact that a harmonious industrial relations climate was crucial to achieving economic growth and sustained development, and it was against this backdrop that the ministry deemed it necessary to update Nigeria’s ‘Future of Work’ Report.
The union recalled that Nigeria, being an ILO member since 1960, has ratified over 40 international labour Conventions, and recently joined the rest of the world to ensure that the World of Work and Labour Administration System is properly secured in line with the Best Practice, as well as to keep up with the constant transformation and diverse challenges in the workplace.
The NLC called on Mrs. B.E. Jedy-Agba, the Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary (PS), Ministry of Justice, to stop blackmailing NLC and misrepresenting the law.
