• Return to negotiation table, LP urges FG, Labour
• Residents tackle Labour as strike grounds schools, courts, banks in Rivers
• N90b Hajj subsidy, luxury SUVs ‘poisoned’ negotiations, says Peterside

In compliance with the indefinite strike declared by organised labour, members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) have shut down the National Assembly complex, leaving no room for compromise. All gates to the complex were under lock and key, yesterday.

 
However, the Labour Party (LP) leadership has called on the Federal Government and organised labour to return to the negotiation table and arrive at an acceptable position for the suffering Nigerians.
 
Rivers State residents have criticised Labour for embarking on an indefinite strike, which grounded economic activities in the state, not minding the effect on Nigerian citizens it claimed to be fighting for.
 
Another twist was added to the minimum wage impasse by the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside, who said the government’s frivolous spending stood in the way of negotiations between government and labour unions.
  
“The Nigerian minimum wage negotiations were destined to be unnecessarily difficult because the Federal Government poisoned the well for responsible negotiations by approving an irresponsible N90 billion for legislators and others, creating the false impression that they were awash in cash,” Peterside wrote on his social media handle, X.
 
Staff members told The Guardian that no employee had been able to access the premises by 10am, yesterday. Workers and legislative aides, who turned up for duties, were turned back.
 
The striking union reportedly cut off the power supply to the complex also. Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) began an indefinite strike, yesterday after last-minute intervention by the National Assembly on Sunday night could not hold them back.
 
The labour unions, however, said they would present the plea from the National Assembly’s leadership to their respective organs for consideration. Senate President Godswill Akpabio had expressed optimism that the unions would call off the strike following their four-hour meeting with organised labour.
 
The unions are striking in response to the Federal Government’s refusal to increase the minimum wage from the proposed N60,000 to their demanded N494,000. Still, the government argued that their demand would result in an additional N9.5 trillion in expenditure yearly, which they describe as unsustainable.
 
Speaking on behalf of organised labour, TUC President, Festus Osifo, declared that they had no power to call off the strike, as they must report back to their National Executive Council (NEC).
 
This was after a marathon four-hour meeting between the labour unions and the National Assembly leadership with four ministers and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

Osifo said, “Yes, we have had a conversation. We have had a meeting and the issues were laid bare on the part of government. We laid out what the issues are on the part of organised labour. There was an appeal from the Senate president for us to call off the industrial action tonight.”
We said we have heard him, but we can’t sit here and call off any industrial action because of condition precedence given to us by our NEC.” Akpabio had pleaded with Labour to back down, as any strike would affect the poor masses more, especially the invalid in hospitals’ Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
 
He also urged the President to continue with the N35,000 wage award, which was stopped in February.
LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, stated, yesterday, that Nigeria had been thrown into darkness, hospitals shut and water pipes drained just a few hours into the strike, thereby throwing citizens into another hardship.
 
It asserted that both the government and Labour needed to shift grounds and meet midway to relieve the masses of the suffering that the industrial action generated.
 
Ifoh stated, “It is our opinion that the Federal Government should not have allowed the strike to commence in the first instance. A new minimum wage is due because the present minimum wage of N30,000 cannot even take anybody home.”

RIVERS State residents lamented that the strike would exacerbate the cost of living crisis, which has reduced many Nigerians’ purchasing power. They urged Labour not to fight for their interest alone, but to consider many citizens who were not on the government’s payroll and push for a reduction in fuel and food prices, as well as appreciation of the naira.
 
Blackout enveloped many parts of the Port Harcourt metropolis after the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Limited (PHED) joined the nationwide strike.
 
Also, banks and some public schools were shut down in compliance with the strike. Private business owners, who could not buy petrol at N850 per litre just opened their shops in darkness. 

  
The Guardian observed that air travellers, who arrived Port Harcourt International Airport yesterday morning, were stranded. Economic expert, Ignatius Chukwu, said: “Poverty increases whenever there is a strike because there will be no electricity, no production, no access to banks, and all sectors of the economy are shut down. This increases poverty and criminal activities.”
 
Vice Chairman of NLC and Chairman of Electricity Workers’ Union in Rivers, Ozomata John, confirmed that PHED joined the strike, in solidarity with the efforts to improve the lives of citizens.
 
Chairman of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Rivers chapter, Golden Spiff, declared that the union resolved to join the strike, due to severe hardship besetting the populace.
 
The Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servants, called on the Federal Government to promptly address and meet Labour’s demands, emphasising the need for swift action.
 
Also, the Chairman of the Nigeria Civil Service Union in Rivers, Chukwuka Richman, was seen leading the enforcement of the strike at the State Secretariat, alongside other labour affiliates.
 
During the exercise, Richman told journalists that they want injustices faced by all to be addressed and not just a select few. He, however, clarified that the Rivers government was not directly involved in the strike, adding that Governor Siminalayi Fubara would have considered calling off the strike, but for the suffering masses across the country.