The Nigerian government’s failure to revise the minimum wage has led to the country’s major labour unions— the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress—calling for an indefinite strike. Their actions caused the national grid to shut down and disrupted various services, including airline operations.
Disgruntled members of the union did not allow operators of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to work at the power-control centres, causing several substations to shut down, which led to the national grid itself being shut down in the early hours. Attempts at restoring the grid were also foiled.
This is not the first time that the unions have gone on strike. They have done so thrice in the past one year.
With aviation unions and electricity unions participating in the strike, several flights had to be suspended due to chaos at the airports. Protesting workers prevented flights from operating.
The workers are seeking a revision of minimum wage because the reforms begun by President Bola Tinubu have resulted in rising inflation. In fact, the inflation has touched the highest in three decades, with citizens struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
While subsidies made fuel cheap, it put a financial pressure of $10 billion on the Nigerian government in 2023, and therefore, had to be scrapped.
The striking workers are now seeking relief for the people and small business. They threaten to continue the strike till a new minimum wage is introduced.
Nigeria’s electricity sector has had to take a loan of $500 million from the World Bank.
