“The government was not ready to accede to our demands, so we walked out of the meeting”, Chris Uyot, deputy general secretary of the congress told Reuters.
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The Senate on Wednesday, directed its committee on Labour to constantly interface with the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress team now on the negotiation table over the hike in fuel price.
The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, representing millions of workers in the private and public sectors, called on its members to shut down Nigeria from Wednesday unless the government abandoned its plans.
Following hours of negotiation between the federal government and the union leaders which ended in a deadlock, the NLC still went ahead with the strike.
Earlier the National Industrial Court had restrained the two unions from going on strike after an application by justice minister Abubakar Malami.
The court also granted an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the NLC (defendant/respondent) from engaging in demonstrations or any action that may disrupt the economic activities of the country pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
“We are not aware of any court ruling that has been served on NLC; we have not been served and I can say that as we are here, we have also informed them that we are not aware of any court ruling”.
A fall in oil prices has eaten into the foreign reserves of Nigeria, which relies on crude sales for around 70 percent of national income.
The federal government has advised all workers to respect the rule of law and desist from participating in an illegal strike.
He said it will be unpatriotic for any citizen of Nigeria to embark on any action that will provoke unpalatable consequences.
Fuel importers have not been bringing in supplies due to their inability to source forex at the official market rate, causing lengthy queues at filling stations. The petrol price increase has been seen as a removal of subsidies the government pays to fuel importers and a recognition of market forces.
In 2012, the government was forced to back down on a similar price rise after nationwide protests.
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Labour unions are agitating for the reversal of a 67% fuel price hike and an increment of the N18,000 minimum wage for workers among other things.
