As the ongoing nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) enters its second day, the house of representatives on Wednesday resolved to liaise with the senate to find solution to the crisis.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by the deputy speaker of the house, Mr Benjamin Kalu.
In the motion, the Abia State lawmaker prayed the house to interface with the senate leadership and the organised labour to end the strike
“If you go to our legislative agenda which we unveiled yesterday, on page 10, Mr Speaker, the mission statement of your administration which I’m gladly a part of, states, ‘Nigeria faces numerous challenges across various sectors and legislative interventions are crucial for addressing these issues and driving positive change. The next paragraph states ‘Critically as People’s Representatives, we recognise that Nigerians and our constituents have the right to know what issues are being addressed and what priorities their elected representatives focus on. This transparency enhances public trust and accountability. Accordingly, we have dubbed the 10th House the People’s House. Mr Speaker this is the people’s house, dubbed by You and I and all the leaders of this assembly.
“You went on to say that this agenda seeks to foster meaningful public engagement and encourage citizens and stakeholders to participate in debates, hearings and consultations related to the identified priorities. Mr Speaker, based on these references made to your documented mission statement and the commitment you made to Nigerians the day we emerged to lead the 10th Assembly, it would be unworthy of us to feign ignorance of what’s happening in our country at the moment.
“Today we were called early in the morning not to come for sitting that the rooms are going to be locked and those that put on lights will not be there. But on a second call, I was told that you braved it and said we cannot engage our people from our home, we will engage them when we sit together and I commend you, Mr Speaker. Your decision to step into the national assembly motivated a whole lot of us to come to the parliament.
“We came because there’s a burning issue in Nigeria with NLC, who had threatened yesterday about going on a massive national strike; it will be unworthy of us to leave this House today without looking into this issue. I pray that the National Labour Congress, NLC and all the unions in Nigeria should trust us once again. Sic
“They should trust us again to come together to find lasting solutions for their pain. We can dialogue, I pray for the House leadership and that of the Senate to sit with this aggrieved NLC, as soon as possible to enable us to find lasting solutions to their need,” Kalu said.
In their contributions, the lawmakers decried the hardship caused to Nigerians by the ongoing strike and urged the organised labour to call it off.
Ruling on the matter, the speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas announced that the house leadership would interface with its senate counterpart to address the situation.
