Buhari: We Must End Strikes to Boost Productivity

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Abuja declared his administration’s commitment to boosting national productivity, by among other things, taking all necessary actions to end incessant strikes by workers in vital sectors of the Nigerian economy.

At a meeting with the Permanent Secretary and Directors of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Buhari said he was particularly disturbed by the seemingly endless strikes in Nigeria’s health sector which had contributed to the fall in the standard of health services available in the country.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu said the president directed the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Clement Illoh and directors in the Ministry of Labour to liaise with other stakeholders and quickly work out proposals for ending the recurring strikes in the health, education, transport, oil and gas, power and other critical sectors of the national economy.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who was also present at the meeting, urged Illoh and his staff to make an input to ongoing plans for the extension of welfare services to poor and disabled persons.

Illoh had earlier attributed some of the recurrent strikes in the country to the inclination of some government officials to enter into agreements with financial implications without carrying the ministries of finance and labour along.

He said the Ministry of Labour had introduced a Code of Conduct for Government Negotiators barring them from entering into agreements with financial implications without the consent of the president.