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Nationwide Strike: Kwara workers defy labour directive
Civil servants in Kwara State reported for work early on Tuesday, despite the nationwide strike proclaimed by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
Civil servants at the State Government Secretariat and the Judiciary reported for duty, while the courts convened in Ilorin, the state capital.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the majority of state government servants, parastatals, and agencies were at work.
Among these offices were the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service and SUBEB.
However, it was discovered that the employees of federal government ministries and enterprises, banks, and power distribution corporations did not arrive to work since their offices were locked.
Commercial banks opened their doors and served clients before closing their doors to begin the strike, while students who had already begun lessons were later sent home by their professors.
Most commercial banks began for business in the morning but eventually closed due to a direction from their union to join the strike.
The majority of bank clients, however, were unhappy since the ATMs in the banks were not dispensing cash.
Some clients were recorded remaining at ATM locations, but they departed when they found that the ATM was not dispensing money.
Electricity customers were also affected by the strike, as the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company sealed the doors to its offices at the Challenge and Baboko Business Centres.
The banner of the National Union of Electricity Employees was prominently displayed at the gates of the business centres, and security guards on duty notified clients that the workers were on strike.
However, commercial transport companies in the state did not join the strike.
Comrade Saheed Olayinka, the state chairman of the NLC, stated that the strike began at midnight and that while some workers arrived to their workplaces early in the day, others that reported for work had gone to their respective homes.
He went on to say that the NLC had formed a committee to oversee the strike, and that members of the committee had been visiting around the offices to ensure that workers followed the strike instructions.
Olayinka stated that the action would be more effective tomorrow, adding that the congress’s monitoring committee will begin picketing the offices of workers who did not comply with the NLC instruction.
The telephone number of the TUC chairman in the state, Comrade Tunde Joseph, could not be contacted since it was shut off at the time of writing this report.
