Benue workers join strike, private schools, markets, banks open

From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi

Civil servants in Benue State joined their counterparts nationwide in observing the strike action initiated by joint labour unions over the national minimum wage and the recent increase in electricity tariffs.

Our correspondent, who toured Makurdi town and its environs, observed that labour leaders in the state visited public offices within the city to ensure compliance with the strike.

While children, students, and teachers in public schools stayed home, those in private schools continued their classes.

Some banks located on Joseph Tarka Way and in the Wurukum area of the capital city offered skeletal services to their customers, while all markets within the city remained fully operational.

At the Benue State Secretariat, only security personnel were present. No civil servants were seen within the complex. The situation was similar at other government agencies visited in various parts of the town.

Professor Simon Ejembi, a lecturer at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University of Agriculture, Makurdi, informed our correspondent that academic activities at the university had been halted, with ongoing examinations suspended due to the strike action.

Comrade Terungwa Igbe, the State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), who led the enforcement team around the city to ensure compliance, stated, “We are going round to ensure total compliance. We are also going to make sure that markets are shut because the compliance has to be total until the demands of labour are met.”