Niger Civil Servants Begin Strike Wednesday

Civil servants in Niger State have declared an indefinite strike over the failure of the government to meet their demands.

The civil servants, acting under the umbrella of the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, had presented some demands to the state government which the NLC said the state reneged upon.

It, however, said its doors were still open for negotiation.

The congress in a letter to Governor Mohammed Bago, dated February 19 and signed by the Chairman, Idrees Lafene, and the chairman of the Trade Union Congress, l, Ibrahim Gana, said the strike would begin 8am on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

The letter was made available to newsmen on Tuesday.

It read in part “We are writing in furtherance to our earlier letter of ultimatum Ref no. OL/NS/040/GEN/Vol 4/29 dated 20/12/23 and the deadlock on settlement of issues as a result of negotiations with Niger State Government Committee.

“We wish to formally inform the Government that effective 8am on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 that Niger State workers shall commence an indefinite strike action until our demands are comprehensively met.

“Meanwhile, we wish to reiterate that our doors are open for negotiation subject to : Conveyance of formal invitation, reversal of all appointments in dispute ie, Executive Directors Finance, Executive Directors Admin and Executive Directors Operations, Chairman, members and permanent commissioners of local Government Service Commission and Civil Service Commission, Directors General DGs of some agencies

“A clear statement by the government on payment of wage award.

“We also wish to stress that the idea of appointing Permanent Secretaries who are not eligible and within the service will no longer be tolerated by the Organised Labour.

“Accordingly we call on the government to withdraw the recent appointment of a Vice Principal on secondment as a Permanent Secretary to allow for career progression from within.

“We also call on the government to desist from victimising teachers and members from the educational sector as a result of the recent debate by some primary school pupils in Agaie LGA.”

The organised labour reiterated it’s commitment to the governor’s New Niger Agenda, noting that there was no response to previous correspondence.