GEJ to Labour : Stop Punishing Nigerians With Strike

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.