Staff Cut Water Supply To N’Assembly

Members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria have stopped the supply of water to the National Assembly in compliance with the ongoing indefinite strike initiated by the organised labour.

PASAN which is under the Nigeria Labour Congress temporarily suspended electricity and water supply to the two structures accommodating the Senate and the House of Representatives, along with other amenities within the National Assembly compound.

Recall that the NLC and TUC had given a May 31, 2024 ultimatum on the new minimum wage.

On Tuesday, the Federal Government and organised labour held a meeting but broke down after the government and organised private sector raised their offers to N60,000.

The government added N3,000 to its initial offer of N57,000 proposed last week, taking the total figure to N60,000.

This was dismissed by labour at the meeting.

The labour union again lowered its demand by removing N3,000 from the N497,000 it proposed last week, pegging the new proposal at N494,000.

Reaching no consensus, the duo held another meeting on Friday.

The talks also hit a brick wall when the government failed to shift grounds on the N60,000 it proposed during the last meeting.

Following the meeting, the NLC declared a nationwide indefinite strike over the Federal Government’s refusal to raise the proposed minimum wage from N60,000.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero who declared the strike said the meeting with the federal government demonstrated the unseriousness and apparent contempt with which the Nigerian state holds the demands of Nigerian workers and people.

“No governor was present and ministers absent except the Minister of State for Labour and Employment who doubles as a conciliator. There was none present on the side of the government with the appropriate authority to commit them to any outcome; in essence, the government abandoned the meeting. We consider this disdainful and shows a lack of commitment to a successful National Minimum Wage negotiation exercise,” he said.