The Nigeria Labour Congress has advised citizens to stock food, medicine, and essentials for a seven-day strike.
The strike which is a protest against fuel subsidy removal and rising living costs will start on Wednesday.
This is coming ahead of a government meeting with labor representatives to prevent the nationwide strike.
Labour noted that the warning had become necessary because the strike could severely limit movement, as transport services will halt, markets and schools will close.
Assistant General Secretary, Chris Onyeka, urges citizens to minimize movements to avoid being stranded during the strike.
NLC had given the government a 7-day ultimatum for a nationwide strike starting August 2, 2023. The labour movement accused the government of not meeting their demands after the petrol subsidy removal.
Government team didn’t show up to meeting
An emergency meeting between the government team and NLC and TUC was scheduled, but the labour officials left angrily when the government team didn’t show up. A follow-up meeting is planned for Monday.
He said, “Nigerians should be prepared. That’s what we are saying. Being prepared means you have to stock food in your house and be economical with your movement at this particular point in time so as to avoid being stranded. It is going to be a nationwide mass protest and we are sure that it will affect every corner of the country. We are seriously mobilising across the nation. We are currently at work at the secretariat alongside the CSOs.
He added that they may not shut down the power supply system, but as the protest goes on, we may shut down other places depending on the response of the government.
“The (Friday) meeting didn’t hold at all. The government side was not prepared. The representatives were not available. They didn’t show any seriousness towards what they were doing. One of the things we do is hold dialogues. We don’t run away from the table anytime they call us. We are having another meeting with them on Monday.”
