Can CBN Stop NLC?

Barely 24 hours to the deadline set by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, to embark on a nationwide strike, not a few Nigerians are watching whether their demand will be met.

The Chris Ajaero led NLC, last week, directed it members to abandon work if the CBN failed to resolve the cash scarcity affecting the country by the middle of this week.

Within the period of the strike, all CBN offices across the country will also be picketed the union said.

The workers’ union had urged Nigerians to join them in the strike slated for Wednesday to protest the suffering of Nigerians due to the Naira crisis that arose from the CBN cash swap policy.

Businesses have suffered due to unavailability of cash, while many Nigerians are finding it hard to purchase essential commodities for the welfare of the families.

As the strike deadline approaches, the CBN, on Monday, took what some have described as a critical step to stop NLC from embarking on the strike.

Godwin Emefiele , the CBN Governor begged the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige to intervened on the issue during a meeting he held with the minister and the NLC representatives led by its president, Chris Ajaero.

The CBN warned that if the workers are allowed to go on strike it will affect the country economically, apart from the effects such strike will have on the operation of the apex bank.

Daily Trust quoted some sources who attended the meeting to have said that the CBN Governor promised to make more cash available before the first week of April.

More cash will be released to commercial bank across the country, Emefiele was quoted to have said in his last ditch effort to stop the strike.

The source said, “You would notice that the CBN had since last Friday directed commercial banks to open during weekends so as to ease the issue of cash crunch. The governor (Emefiele) was here to talk to the Minister in order to prevail on the labour leaders.

“He (Emefiele) said the protest will disrupt a lot of things in the bank, hence his reasons to heed the minister’s call who is a Chief conciliator.”

The NLC president is expected to brief the media today on the outcome of the meeting, according to sources in the union who spoke on condition of anonymity.