The National Labour Congress (NLC) has refuted claims of an impending nationwide strike scheduled for Monday, December 18, dismissing the report as “fake news.” 

Benson Upah, the Head of Information and Public Affairs for the union, stated that no official notice has been issued by the union regarding any planned strike.

In response to the alleged strike notice purportedly signed by the General Secretary of NLC and Secretary General of TUC, Comrades Emmanuel Ugboaja, and Nuhu Toro, respectively, Upah stated: “It has been brought to our attention a notice of a strike action to commence tomorrow, Monday, December 18 across the country. We want to reassure Nigerians that this notice did not emanate from us, and neither do we have any intention of initiating any strike action this period.”

He urged concerned Nigerians to dismiss the news, emphasizing its falsity, saying, “Accordingly, concerned Nigerians are advised to ignore this notice. It is fake.”

Providing context to the situation, earlier reports on Friday suggested that the organized union was gearing up for industrial action due to the World Bank’s proposal to increase the price of fuel to N750 per liter. Allegedly, organized labor had warned the federal government of a nationwide strike if the proposed fuel price hike was implemented.

Disputing these reports, Benson Upah clarified that the labor union had issued no such warning to the federal government and had no intention of initiating a strike on Monday. He concluded by categorizing the news reports as “fake news” and urged Nigerians to disregard them.