Unions call off 2 weeks strike after meeting minister

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria(ASCSN) and Nigeria Civil Service Union(NCSU) have called off their two weeks strike after a meeting with Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister for Labour and Employment on Tuesday.

This was made known in a statement signed by Mr Samuel Olowookere, Deputy Director (Press) in the Ministry, made available to the newsmen in Abuja.

According to Olowookere, the strike was called off immediately, at the end of a meeting summoned by the Minister in his office, between the unions and the Chairman, Public Complaint Commission(PCC), their umbrella agency.

“Following the intervention of the Minister, the two weeks industrial action embarked upon by NCSU and ASCSN, has been called off and they agreed that workers should return to work immediately,” he said.

He added that Ngige assured the workers the matter will receive due attention from the Federal Government.

According to the minister, payment of all outstanding salaries of workers will be given priority upon the release of funds.

He reassured the workers that the shortfall in their emolument was among the financial matters approved by the President as virements in the 2016 budget appropriation sent to the National Assembly for ratification.

Similarly, the Chief Commissioner, PCC, Mr Emmanuel Ogbile said the industrial action was due to non-payment of full salary of staff of the commission.

“It was a fallout of constraints on budgetary provisions in their recurrent cost especially, personnel cost reduction by 50 per cent for some unexplained reasons,” he stressed.

He said that a committee comprising Labour and Management has been put in place to monitor and ensure faithful implementation of the resolutuions.

The workers agreed to unlock the gate of the commission for normalcy to return.