Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said that the Federal Government has resolved the issue of the Naira scarcity which made the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to issue a strike notice to the Federal Government last week.
NGIGE made this known at the resumed weekly Ministerial Briefing, organised by the Presidential Communication Team at the State House, Abuja.
The NLC had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the CBN and the commercial banks to end the cash scarcity.
NLC leadership said failure to address the issue would attract a nationwide protest and the picketing of the apex bank’s branches.
But Ngige, on Tuesday disclosed that dialogues, coordinated by his Ministry and the CBN had taken steps to remedy the situation.
The Minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, and other senior officials of the Ministry, said as at the moment, the issue to be discussed by NLC in National Executive Council meeting would no longer be issues of protest, which he said had already been solved.
“Now they have all answered our calls because we are the Chief Conciliators. In my opening remark I said I’ve noticed that there’s already a dialogue going on and there’s also implementation and the Nigerian Labour Congress agreed that there was some thawing at the surface of the icing that was there.
“They said they will call up their National Executive Council meeting because the initial decision to give that ultimatum was given by this same Council. Members of the Council reside in the states and in the local governments, so that they will come up today, which is Tuesday, the 28th, to review the situation because much as it is, the important thing is that we have emphasised to them that we have apprehended this dispute.
“By Section 7:8 of Trade Dispute Act, once the Minister apprehends and starts conciliation on it, you maintain status quo ante bellum. So they have gone back now to review the situation. If they’re not satisfied with what they have seen, they will come back to me and I’ll invite the CBN again.
“But for now, the issue of discussion is no longer strike, the issue of discussion is implementation and how far it’s gone and how far it affects Nigerian workers and the general population.
“So that is it, the final decision will be made today by NEC and they will then do a resolution, of course, inform me and CBN what their resolution is. But like I said, we have apprehended and we are now conciliating”, he promised..