Nigeria in recent times had witnessed pockets of industrial action by unions that are demanding better pay and welfare for their workers.
This incessant strike is capable of threatening the social life and economic recovery of the country
Last month alone, the country witnessed strike in key sectors of the economy including health, judiciary and education
On the first day of this month, the National Association of Resident Doctors resumed an industrial action, which lasted ten days.
The Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria embarked on its own strike over service conditions while the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics declared a nationwide strike.
Earlier in March, the union had given the government a twenty-one day ultimatum for the nationwide implementation of financial autonomy in the Judiciary.
In December last year, the Nigerian Identity Management Commission workers disrupted the National Identity Number registration of Nigerians by declaring a trade dispute over poor welfare and poor working condition.
Also, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria gave the Federal Government a seven-day notice to address its grievances or have port operations shut down.
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, declared strike over non-implementation of a new salary structure for polytechnic lecturers.
At the state level, teachers and magistrates in Cross River State are locked in a bitter feud with their governments over salary default.
Strike in the country’s fragile education sector is a huge setback, which suffered badly last year from the covid-19 lockdowns, while industrial action in the judiciary, health and education will not augur well for the economy and should be prevented at all costs.
Despite the recession experienced as a result of covid-19 pandemic, several countries have been working hard to minimize the damage to their economies.
For instance, in July 2020, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, initiated a thirty billion pounds covid-19 stimulus to save jobs.
The package included one thousand pounds for firms to take on trainees, and two billion pounds to subsidize placements for sixteen to twenty-four year-olds from lower income families.
At this juncture, it is necessary that government should stop negotiating unrealistic agreements with unions, and invest massively in the health, education, judiciary and social infrastructure.
This is what obtains in Ghana where the government assisted medical practitioners with generous incentives and tax rebates.
Government needs to think along that line by giving resident doctors a decent hazard allowance.
Unions should avoid going on strike at any slight provocation; rather other actions such as ‘go-slows’ or ‘working to rule’ can be employed when dialogue appears not to be yielding any positive result.
Government officials should make sacrifices by shunning medical tourism and expensive lifestyles for the development of the country.
There is also the need to review allowances of political office holders downward to meet financial needs of all sectors of the nation.
It is important that government ought to retool the economy by improving the revenue profile through privatizing of the state-owned enterprises, improving tax collection and plug fiscal leakages.
With this, government will have more income to maintain its workforce and resuscitate the battered economy.
Fawzeeyah Kasheem
