Jonathan to labour: Stop punishing Nigerians with strikes

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday
cautioned labour unions against punishing
Nigerians with “unnecessary industrial actions.”
Specifically, the President wondered why the
Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Union of
Petroleum and Natural Gas workers would embark
on a nationwide strike over issues involving an
oil worker and his employer.
Jonathan, at the commencement of a housing
scheme for workers in Abuja, said he believed
that labour needed to explore all avenues for
resolving conflicts before embarking on strike.
The President said, “We believe that before
declaring an industrial action, all avenues for
resolving it must be exploited. We are smiling
today because we passed through some painful
negotiations. Nothing good comes easy. So, for
us to smile, there must be some painful things to
pass through.
“If there are issues, let us discuss. This
administration means well for everybody. This
administration believes that the country belongs
to all of us. That I am the President today does
not make me feel like I have a stake in Nigeria
more than the man working in the garden. We
all have equal stake in Nigeria.
“I beg Nigerians to allow me to serve for a
period and go and this will not make me more
important than any other Nigerian. Therefore,
what is painful to the worker is also painful to us.
Let us negotiate, let us discuss and make sure
we don’t punish our people more by unnecessary
industrial actions over issues that can be
resolved.”
Jonathan said he always called on labour
leaders to work and partner his government for
the interest of workers.
He said, “Whenever there is a crisis, it is the
workers that suffer. If there is a little problem, we
should be able to resolve it peacefully. But when
workers now go to the extreme and declare war,
it is the workers that suffer the most.
“Nigerian workers in all the states of the
federation and local governments are paying
more for transport to go to work because of the
current strike by oil workers.
“Their children also pay more to go to school.
Their wives and relations pay more to go to the
market and other places. Who loses more? It is
the workers.”
Oil workers under PENGASSAN and NUPENG
commenced an indefinite strike in a bid to push
for the implementation of their demands from the
Federal Government.