The Nigerian Army has issued a clarification on its presence at the venue where the leadership of the Joint Labour Unions and the federal government are meeting to end the nationwide strike.
The reaction followed the alarm raised by the National Labour Congress (NLC) on the presence of military personnel at the venue of the meeting.
“Soldiers are Presently surrounding the venue of the meeting between Labour and Government at the premises of the SGF,” the NLC wrote via its X handle earlier on Monday.
But the Nigerian Army while reacting to the concerns of the NLC said: “The attention of Army Headquarters has been drawn to false breaking news by NLC alleging that soldiers currently surround the venue of the ongoing meeting between NLC and the SGF.
“Kindly note that the NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who is also attending the meeting, arrived at the meeting venue with his retinue of statutorily approved military escorts.
“Once the meeting is over, the escorts will lead the NSA from the venue .
“Kindly disregard the deliberate and misleading falsehood being peddled about the presence of the escorts at the meeting.”
The NLC and the Federal Government are in talks over minimum wage.
Labour has demanded a pay rise to N494,000, but the government has offered N60,000.
Following the lack of agreement, the Labour union insisted on going on strike on June 3, thereby paralysing socio-economic activities across the country.
Airports, hospitals, schools and federal government offices have all been shut.