Abia NLC speaks with Otti and agrees to end the indefinite strike

The union has promised the incoming governor, Alex Otti, that it will put an end to the two-week-old industrial action that the Abia State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress began to pressure the government to pay its members’ unpaid salaries and pensions.

This guarantee came after a late-Friday meeting between the union’s top brass and the state’s incoming governor in Isialangwa, a rural community.

The Abia NLC leadership, headed by Comrade Pascal Nweke, the party’s chairman, had told Otti—who would be sworn in as the state’s governor on Monday, May 29, 2023—that it would extend the gesture to him after consulting with its national leadership.

In response, Otti reaffirmed his pledge during the campaign to prioritize wage payments and make sure that any arrears are paid as soon as possible.

In order to force Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to pay the backlog of wages, pensions, and retirement benefits due to state personnel, the national leadership of the NLC has launched an indefinite strike in Abia State in February.

But just a few days ago, Hon. Iheanacho Obioma, the head of the Alex Otti Inauguration Committee, begged the union to end the strike as a show of good faith and support for the new Labour Party (LP) administration.