The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have declared total nationwide strike from Monday, June 3rd, 2024 over the new minimum wage and hike in electricity tariff.

The President of the TUC, Festus Osifo, made the announcement at a joint news conference with the leadership of the NLC in Abuja on Friday.

Recall that Labour had made an earlier request to the Federal Government to conclude all negotiations for a new minimum wage before the end of May.

In a statement jointly signed by Joe Ajaero of the NLC and Osifo of the TUC, and read by the TUC chief, Labour said: “In light of this persistent inaction, we, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), hereby issue a notice of commencement of an indefinite nationwide strike to the Federal Government.

“We reiterate that since the National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise has not been concluded and the agreed wage passed into law; the hike in electricity tariff has not been reversed and the categorization of consumers into Bands has not stopped as demanded; Nigerian workers are compelled by these failures to embark on an indefinite nationwide industrial action beginning on Monday, the 3rd of June, 2024 to press home our demands.”

Labour and the Federal Government had been engaged in discussions over a living wage for workers. While the government offered N60,000 as new minimum wage, Labour insisted on N497,000 after an initial N615,000.

Labour is also asking for a reversal in electricity tariff from N225/kwh to N65/kwh.