Nigeria is on the brink of an indefinite nationwide strike after the country’s two largest labour unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), declared a work stoppage starting Monday. Negotiations over a new minimum wage collapsed on Friday, prompting the unions to take this drastic step.
The unions had previously warned they would strike if a new minimum wage wasn’t agreed upon by the end of May. Talks reached a dead end after the government refused to budge from its offer of 60,000 naira ($133), which the unions deemed insufficient.
“The government refused to negotiate further,” the unions stated in a joint press release. “Not even a single naira was added to their 60,000 naira proposal, which we rightfully rejected.”
The strike will continue until the government agrees to a new minimum wage, the unions affirmed. Additionally, they demanded the reversal of a recent hike in electricity tariffs.
This brewing crisis comes amidst a rising cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria. Inflation has soared to its highest point in nearly 30 years, fueled in part by the government’s scrapping of fuel subsidies and the lifting of currency exchange restrictions, both aimed at easing pressure on public finances. These measures, while necessary, have tripled petrol prices, squeezing household budgets.
President Bola Tinubu has faced mounting pressure from the unions to provide relief for struggling citizens after eliminating the fuel subsidy, a policy that kept petrol prices artificially low but burdened the government with a hefty $10 billion annual price tag.
