Nigeria may indeed experience a total shut of the economy as the workers in the banking sector have issued a threat to embark on total shutdown of the financial sector in solidarity with members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) currently on strike.
Though the workers under the umbrella of the National Union of Banks Insurance and Financial Institutions (NUBIFIE) did not state specifically the date for their proposed industrial action, this may not be far from now.
In a statement jointly signed by NUBIFIE President Anthony Abakpa and General Secretary Mohammed Sheikh, the union said this is sequel to the directive from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
Most affiliates of the NLC, including National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) have issued similar threat last week and now all waiting for the directive from the labour centre.
“However, if after one-day protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress on this issue and nothing was done, the Union will have no other option than to call out All our Members in Banks, Insurance and other Financial Institutions in solidarity with ASUU,” the statement has read.
NUBIFIE leadership said it considered the lingering strike action embark upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as a crude injustice being meted to the nation’s youth.
The union lamented that the youthful energies of the nation’s youth are being wasted away at home over nonchalant attitude of federal government to honour the contractual agreement between them and ASUU.
It stated, “It is obvious this incessant strike action since February 14th, 2022 will continue to take huge toll on the Academic performance of the students, as well as psychological trauma it has impaired on both the student and the poor parent.
The union said that since the federal government lacks the will power to take the bull by the horn by fulfilling its agreement with ASUU and having considered this heinous action as a national embarrassment, “the Leadership of NUBIFIE therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene concretely and end the ongoing strikes.”
