Labour leaders said the indefinite strike scheduled to begin on June 3 will continue as planned after last-minute intervention on Sunday by leaders of the National Assembly failed to yield positive results.
The meeting which was called by principal officers of the National Assembly was presided by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajuddeen Abbas.
The meeting was aimed at convincing the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to embrace dialogue and shelve their planned strike action.
Present at the meeting were the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), George Akume; Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; minister of finance, Wale Edun; minister of budget and national planning, Atiku Bagudu.
Others were the minister of state for labour and productivity, Nkiruka Onyejiocha; minister of information and national orientation, Mohammed Idris; minister of state for agriculture and rural development, Aliyu Abdullahi; and head of the civil service of the federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan.
Addressing newsmen after the closed-door meeting which lasted for four hours, TUC president Festus Osifo said, “The Senate President appealed to us to call off the strike. But we can’t sit here and call off the strike because we have others organs. We will take the appeals to our various organs.
“We don’t have the powers to call off the strike action. For now, the strike action will commence, while we discuss with our organs.”
This means that banks, schools, courts and others are expected to be shut.
