Go to school, risk your lives, Abia NLC warns students

The Abia State chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Uchenna Obigwe, yesterday warned parents in the state against allowing their children to go to school He also said that any parent who ignored the warning would be doing so at his or her own risk. Describing the indefinite strike declared by a faction of the Nigeria Labour Congress as successful, Obigwe boasted that the NLC in the state had forced all the private schools in the state capital to shut down. He said the branch of NLC in the state had successfully done the same in Aba the previous day. “Any parent who allows his child to go to school from Monday does so at his own risk,” he declared. 

Obigwe, has described the indefinite strike action embarked upon by Go to school, risk your lives, Abia NLC warns students the union as a successful exercise in the state. Obigwe, who monitored the event fom Abuja, said the NLC in the state had succeeded in shutting down the state in compliance with the directive from the national body led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba. Speaking with to Reporters in Umuahia on the strike action, Obigwe said although he was not around, the fillers he got from his lieutenants showed that it was a huge success, bearing in mind that it had just started. 

Obigwe said that after their meeting on Friday last week, he created three zones, namely Aba, Ohafia and Umuahia. “So when I was in Abuja, after agreeing to go on with the strike, I informed them and they went into action, which has been successfully achieved, “As I talk with you now, Aba has been shut down completely while Umuahia has gone the same way. Even the banks in the state have been shut down, as well as private schools.” 

The Abia NLC chair accused the federal government of insincerity, saying it had introduced the issue of minimum wage while the union was talking about reduction in both electricity tariff and pump price of fuel. Obigwe said the issue of increased minimum wage is a constitutional one which had been agreed must be reviewed every five years. “But they have decided to introduce it to bring confusion, knowing that electricity tariff and pump price affects everyone,” he said.