LAGOS/ABUJA, June 3 – Nigeria’s main labor unions shut down the national grid and disrupted flights across the country on Monday as they began an indefinite strike over the government’s failure to agree on a new minimum wage.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The strike commenced after negotiations between the government and the country’s two largest union federations, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), broke down. This marks the fourth strike since President Bola Tinubu took office last year.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) reported that union members drove operators away from the country’s power control rooms and shut down at least six substations, ultimately collapsing the national grid at 02:19 am (0119 GMT).
Nigerian airline Ibom Air announced it was suspending flights until further notice due to the strike. United Nigeria Airlines also stated that airports across the country had been shut down and that striking workers had prevented its flights from operating.
In a joint statement, electricity and aviation unions instructed their members to withdraw their services in support of the indefinite strike. Oil unions threatened to halt oil production, but Nigeria’s oil regulator chief, Gbenga Komolafe, assured that contingencies were in place to ensure output was not disrupted.
Since taking office, Tinubu has implemented bold reforms, which have driven inflation to a nearly 30-year high and exacerbated a cost-of-living crisis in Africa’s most populous nation. He has faced increasing pressure from unions to provide relief to households and small businesses after eliminating petrol subsidies, which kept fuel affordable but cost the government $10 billion annually.
“We have a responsibility to strike a measured and realistic balance in this effort to arrive at a new minimum wage for Nigerians,” said Information Minister Mohammed Idris, following renewed talks with union leaders on Monday afternoon.
Unions declared the indefinite strike on Friday after negotiations for a new minimum wage intended to mitigate the impact of the reforms collapsed. They demanded a sixteen-fold increase in the minimum wage to 494,000 naira ($333.23) per month from 30,000 naira and vowed to continue the strike until a new minimum wage was established.
Additionally, unions have demanded the reversal of an electricity tariff hike implemented in April for higher-consuming users, as the government attempts to reduce reliance on subsidies.
The TCN stated it was making efforts to recover and stabilize the national grid, but unions were obstructing grid recovery nationwide.
On Thursday, Nigeria’s privatization body announced that the country had secured a $500 million World Bank loan for its electricity sector.
($1 = 1,482.4800 naira)
