BY SUSAN EZEH

BAUCHI – Following  suspension of industrial action by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, civil servants in Bauchi State have expressed mixed feelings over the N18,000 national minimum wage.

Some of the civil servants said the decision to call off the strike was in the best interest of country while others criticised labour leaders for selling out over the new salary scale for workers. They advised that union leaders should be more proactive in committing the Federal Government to meet their demands in future.

Both groups, however, agreed that the aborted three days warning strike would have paralysed commercial and economic activities in the country and cause more damage on the already prostrate economy, even as others praised the Federal Government for averting the industrial action.

Mr David Ayodele, a civil servant who works with the Bauchi Radio Corporation, said  the decision by the NLC to call off the strike was a good development, because the common man would have passed through difficulties.

He said: “A day before take-off of the strike, there was rush to purchase essential commodities; people were also seen making panic purchase of petroleum products and huge withdrawals from banks and this was not good for the economy. But everything will still be okay if the Federal Government does not renege on its promise to start paying by August 31.

“They agreed to pay the minimum wage by August 31, they also agreed to pay arrears between March and July in August, so if they do not renege on their words, workers will have no cause to go on strike again” .

For Yusuf Abdullahi, another civil servant with the Ministry of Information in Bauchi said labour should not have suspended the strike until the Federal Government fulfilled its own part of the agreement.