Nigeria loses electricity and major airports close while unions demand an increase of more than 1,500% in the minimum wage in a context of record inflation.
Nigeria’s main trade unions have shut down the national power grid and halted flights across the country as they embark on an indefinite strike over the government’s failure to reach agreement on a new minimum wage.
The strike is the fourth initiated by the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), two of the country’s largest trade union federations, since President Bola Tinubu took office last year.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said on Monday that union members evicted operators from power control rooms and shut down at least six substations, eventually shutting down the national grid at 2:19 am (01:19 GMT).
Nigerian airline Ibom Air said it was suspending flights until further notice due to the strike, while another, United Nigeria, said airports across the country were closed and striking workers had not allowed any of its airlines to operate. flights.
The electricity and aviation unions said in a statement that they had ordered members to withdraw from their services in line with the indefinite strike.
“We demand a living wage,” said the NLC on X. He and the TUC represent hundreds of thousands of government workers in key sectors.
Unions want the current monthly minimum wage of 30,000 naira ($20) to be increased to almost 500,000 naira ($336). The government offered 60,000 naira ($40).
The unions’ demand would increase the government’s wage bill by 9.5 billion naira ($6.3 billion), which is capable of “destabilizing the economy”, said Information Minister Mohammed Idris.
Since taking office, Tinubu has embarked on reforms that have fueled inflation to a nearly 30-year high and worsened the cost of living crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.
He has been under pressure from unions to offer help to families and small businesses after eliminating gasoline subsidies, which previously kept the fuel cheap but cost the government $10 billion a year.
Unions declared an indefinite strike on Friday after negotiations over a new minimum wage broke down. They said the strike will last until a new minimum wage is established.
TCN said it was making an effort to recover and stabilize the national grid, but unions were obstructing grid recovery across the country.
Unions also demanded the reversal of the increase in electricity tariffs that came into force last month for wealthier consumers who use more energy, as the government tries to free the economy from subsidies.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
