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From Tony Osauzo, Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin and Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Officials of the Edo State chapter of the NLC also shut down government offices, public schools, banks, local government secretariats in all the 18 local government areas and other government offices as a special team moved round to ensure compliance.
Customers were stranded at the gates of several banks in Benin City as operators of Point of Sale (POS) besieged several banks with the hope of getting cash for their business.
Some of the POS operators cashed in on the strike to increase their transaction charges.
The NLC enforcement team did not spare the NNPC Mega Filling Station along Sapele Road, which had already opened for business. The team shut down the facility and the entrance gate to the Oba Akenzua II Benin Airport, leaving many travellers stranded, even as some of them tried to enter the airport through the exit gate.
The team was also at the Edo State House of Assembly Complex where it disrupted an ongoing prayer meeting. But, the Majority Leader of the House, Charity Aiguobarueghan intervened and explained to the NLC team that it was a monthly prayer session. They were allowed to conclude the session before shutting the complex. The NLC picketing team was led by the state vice chairman, Williams Uwumarogie, who stood in for the state chairman, Odion Olaye.
The enforcement team was also at the TCN station along Sapele Road in Benin.
Speaking on the strike, the Edo State NLC Youth Chairman, Osaro Best Idahosa, said: “So far so good, we have shut down the NNPC mega station. We have shut down the Pension Trustfund, the NPDC, the Secretariat Complex, the Federal Secretariat at Aduwawa, and the High Court Complex. We discovered that some students forced themselves into some public schools and we shut them down. The Akenzua II Airport in Benin is shut down, the Museum, TCN and the BEDC offices in Akpakpava.
“There is no timeframe for this strike, it is indefinite, but we look up to the national leadership to direct us on the next line of action. For now, no time frame for this strike. We will continue again tomorrow (today).”
In Bayelsa, the industrial action recorded 100 percent compliance as all public sectors, including the state Federal Secretariat, Nigerian Content Development and Management Board (NCDMB) and Bayelsa State Airport, were locked up.
The workers shut down the Bayelsa Airport to prevent flight operations to Lagos and Abuja.
At the NCDMB headquarters, several vehicles were used by the union to barricade the entrance gate to prevent the management staff from accessing their offices and premises while the federal secretariat was under lock and key.
The situation was the same at the federal secretariat and the state secretariat, where no worker reported for duty except the union officials, who were mandated to monitor compliance.
At the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa, there were partial services offered, especially for those in emergency wards.
The state council chairman of NLC, Barnabas Simon, said they were reacting based on the directive of its national secretariat, particularly on the refusal of the Federal Government to do the needful with regards to seeing how the hike in fuel pump price can be reversed.
“We are tired of the minimum wage, we cannot go minimum anymore, and we want to go living, and the Federal Government is foot-dragging…We are saying a capital no unless the Federal Government comes to term with labour and does the needful in releasing the living wage without further delay, it is a total action; we shall have no compromise whatsoever. We are using the medium to tell all our members and workers in Bayelsa State to stay at home. We are also using this medium to call on President Bola Tinubu to see how he would expedite action in ensuring that these issues are ameliorated to cushion the effect of subsidy removal,” he said
Also, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) chairman, Laye Julius, said in line with the directive of the national, the leadership and the monitoring committees were going round to ensure workers comply with the strike directive.
He said: “All the banks in the state, federal institutions and the state institutions have been shut down, and this will continue until we get a counter directive from our nation.
“What we are showing them is that we have a right to Nigeria. We have a right to the economy. We have a right to a better standard of living just like them. We are telling them to come back to the negotiation table, and until you do that, we will not accept.”
