Some members of the Nigerian business community have shown concerns that the planned nationwide strike by the organised labour over workers’ welfare in the post-subsidy regime may aggravate the dire economic situation of the country rather than assuage it.
The Nigerian Labour Congress which is demanding a review of the minimum wage, tax exemptions and allowances for public sector workers, among others in the post-subsidy era had earlier given a 21-day ultimatum to the federal Government to provide palliative to Nigerians to cushion the effect of the fuel-subsidy removal.
Following the expiration of the NLC’s ultimatum yesterday, the leadership of the congress (NLC) is scheduled to convene on Tuesday to take a decision on the strike.
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The Nation reported that the Congress’ threat to shut down commercial and economic activities across the country after its recent warning industrial action did not go down well with the business community who believes such action would not agure well with the country and the generality of its citizens.
The Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir was reported to have said a national strike at this time would only complicate the present economic situation.
His words: “Like we have always said, when the labour union goes on strike, the economy is negatively impacted. It is not the Government that suffers, but the masses.
“There are fears that if that strike is accompanied by violent protests, it will have implications for maintenance of peace.
“Whichever way you look at it, I think strikes by the labour union even at the normal time will negatively affect the economy, not to mention now that our economy is going through a lot of challenges.
“You are aware that this administration is barely 100 days old and there are quite a number of policy initiatives the government has taken that are supposed to help the pace for economic reflation in the country.
“Those policies are yet to fully mature to start to yield any positive outcomes. In my own opinion, all hands should be on deck to get the economy on the path of recovery and reflation of the economy.
“A strike at this time is going to set back the process and may lead to further hardship for the people and the economy.”
Mr Segun Ajayi-Khadir appealed to government and labour to quickly resolve their differences on the issue, adding that the labour need to begin to look for alternative means of pressing its demand rather depending solely on strike actions which invariably ground the economy and ultimately affect the people the union intended to speak for.
Mr Peter Adebola, a stock market operator, was also reported as saying the stock market activities may be heavily impacted if the indefinite nationwide strike threatened by the organised labour holds.
“All stock market macroeconomic indicators would also go down. This is because the macroeconomic indicators that would influence the stocks would be negative,” Mr Adebola said.
The stock market expert reportedly noted that the disturbance in the stock market due to the strike is highly probable if the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) join the action.