September 5, (THEWILL) – The two-day warning strike embarked upon by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has partly crippled economic activities in Cross River state.
The strike, which was called to the harsh economic activities, was largely complied with by workers in the formal sector of the state.
Offices in Calabar, Cross River’s capital, were on Tuesday, all under lock and keys following the two-day warning strike.
Most of the government offices in the state like the Old Secretariat, New Secretariat, as well as the Federal Secretariat, were boycotted by workers.
Similarly, virtually all banks in the state capital were under lock and key and customers had to resort to Point Of Sales Services to carry out their financial transactions.
Despite the strike action, most major markets within the Metropolis, filling stations and others in the informal sectors of the economy were open for business.
Also opened for business were those in the transport sector of the state economy, who defied the strike and continued to offer services to members of the public.
Nkoyo Andem, a vegetable seller in Watt Market, within the Calabar Metropolis, said they are not part of the labour movement, and so the strike does not affect them.
In the education sector, most public and private schools in the state have yet to commence the new term.
However, at the tertiary level, some students of the University of Cross River were seen going to school.
One of the students, who craved anonymity, said they were not formally informed of the strike and so their lectures and other activities in school continued as scheduled.
A POS operator within the city, Ernest Etim, said they are not feeling the impact of the strike because they had prepared ahead by withdrawing enough cash.
He, however, disclosed that the impact of the strike will be severely felt if they run out of cash because they will not be able to access their accounts with the banks.
Reacting to the matter, Comrade Lawrence Achuta, Vice Chairman of NLC in Cross River, said the directive was for workers to stay at home on Tuesday and Wednesday, which the workers complied with.
Achuta added that they also sent out a task force team that went around the state to ensure strict compliance with the directive from the national body.
Similarly, Dr MacFarlane Ejah, Executive Director International Training, Research and Advocacy Project (ITRAP), said there was no better time for organised labour to embark on the warning strike.
According to Ejah, the present administration in the nation was getting close to its 100 days in office and there was no clear framework showing where it was taking the nation to.
He added that until we looked at the social factors that were affecting activities in the country to ensure that things did not work the way they were working, increasing salaries would still be a problem.
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
