A federal high court in Abuja has restrained the labour unions from embarking on their planned nationwide strike to protest the government’s abrupt removal of petrol subsidy.
The order came by an ex-parte injunction obtained by the Attorney-General on behalf of the federal government.
Justice O.Y. Anuwe’s order said the restraint persists until 19 June when all parties will come to court for hearing on the substantive motion on notice.
The judge said he believed the applicant’s assertion that the strike “may gravely affect the larger society and indeed the well-being of the nation at large”.
The nation’s two labour unions, the Nigerian Labour Congress, (NLC) and the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) were united in their decision to commence the strike on Wednesday 7 June indefinitely.
Petrol prices have since jumped 200% spiralling high-cost transportation and spreading inflation across the economy. The labour unions say the new prices were inhuman and anti-people and that it has rubbished wages and worsened the living standards of the working class and the poor.
It’s unclear if the unions will defy the court order and proceed with the strike or whether this will lead to a de-escalation of its confrontation with the new government of Bola Tinubu.
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