National executive councils of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Wednesday night suspended their nationwide strike over an alleged assault on the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero.
The unions said the suspension followed the intervention of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu.
The OPS comprising critical players in the economy noted that the strike would affect the Federal Government’s ability to meet its yearly revenue target.
It was gathered that the organised Labour meeting which commenced a few minutes past 7pm lasted for close to one hour during which various affiliates and state chapters reviewed the outcome of the meeting held between the leaders of the organized Labour and the NSA.
National Deputy President of the TUC, Tommy Etim, explained that the strike was suspended based on the trust the unions had in Ribadu.
He said: “The NECs of the NLC and the TUC have suspended the strike. We did this based on our trust in the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu who gave us his word. We also saw that he wasn’t playing politics with our demands and he was ready and promised to follow up with everything.”
“It is a temporary suspension. We are going to give them some time after which we will meet and if they fail to meet up, the strike resumes.
“We listened to the NSA and he listened to us. He noted that Ajaero didn’t do anything wrong by going to Imo State. We must commend the NSA and it is because of him that there is a suspension of the strike.”