Nigeria’s main labor unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have suspended their indefinite strike for one week to continue negotiations with the government over a new minimum wage. The strike, which began on Monday and continued into Tuesday, had shut down the national grid and disrupted flights, protesting the government’s failure to agree on a new wage amid rising inflation and a worsening cost of living crisis. After late-night talks on Monday, the government expressed openness to a higher minimum wage than the initially proposed $41.38 (N60,000), but no new amount has been announced. TUC president Festus Osifo stated that the unions have given the government a one-week grace period to propose an agreeable minimum wage. The strike action follows President Bola Tinubu’s decision to scrap a petrol subsidy, which had kept petrol prices low, in a bid to reduce government expenditure.
SOURCE: VOA NEWS