Delta TUC opts out of strike

As affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) across the country joined in the strike action in protest of the new pump price of petrol, the Delta State council of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria’s second official labour front, on Thursday, countered  the industrial action. click to read protest in ibadan

Indications of a fissure in the rank of organised labour in the state came from the stable of the TUC, which, in a one-page statement by its leadership in the state, pegged its decision to “suspend” the strike on several pegs.

The statement, endorsed by Comrade Lawson Efenudu (State Chairman) and Comrade Austine Ohwofaria, Secretary, named the pegs of its action to include the immediate setting up of a committee to determine appropriate types and measures of palliative measures within two weeks, and the immediate setting up of a Technical Committee on Minimum Wage to determine a suitable upwardly reviewed National Minimum Wage for Nigerian workers.

It also named “the immediate reconstitution of the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to monitor petrol sales”.

The statement was tagged “TUC Suspends Strike”, and was dated May 18, 2016.

Strategically, it added, “In view of the foregoing, the Delta State Council of the TUC, hereby calls on all affiliates to direct their members to go back to work immediately”.

Meanwhile, as part of her efforts to fulfill the promise of prosperity for all Deltans, the wife of the Delta State governor, Dame Edith Okowa has unveiled part of her activities under the auspices of her “05 Initiative” to commemorate the one year in office of the present administration.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday in Asaba, Mrs. Okowa said that on May 27, the “05 Kitchen” will cook and feed as many children that will come for the Children’s Day at the state capital, while at the local government level, they will be handled by wives of the local government chairmen respectively, adding that she desired that all the chairmen’s wives should remain at their various localities to carry out the functions.

She said May 29, being Democracy Day, will be celebrated in the state capital while on the 30th, her foundation will inaugurate the fourth sickle cell clinic at the Oleh General Hospital.

For the celebration of the “05 initiative anniversary, the governor’s wife also stated that there will be a visitation to the five prisons in the state, namely, Ogwashi-Uku, Agbor, Warri, Sapele and Kwale prisons respectively, and this she said should go along with food, gift items and even release some inmates on fine options.