Business activity in Kano State continued normally on Wednesday following a defiant stance by trade unions in the State against the directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), who urged workers to embark on a nationwide strike.
The defiance came on the heels of a press conference convened by the National Chairman of the harmonized trade unions, Bature Abdulaziz, and the Kano State Chapter Chairman of the National Chamber of Indigenous Contractors, Auduwa Maitangaran, urging traders to ignore the directive of the NLC.
Our correspondent who monitored the situation in Kano city reported that there was hustle and bustle in all the major markets in the State where traders were seen displaying their wares.
Investigation also revealed that the banking sector also continued on in hope that traders who defied the NLC directive by coming out to sell their goods.
At the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), our correspondent reported that resident doctors were seen tending to patients also against the directive of the NLC.
Government ministries and parastatals were opened as early as 8:00 AM for workers defying the NLC call, with the exception of courts located within the premises of the Audu Bako Secretariat in Kano, where entrances to the courts remained under lock and key.
A civil servant who gave his opinion to our correspondent said the successive leaders of the NLC were ruining the nation in the name of the strike.
He added that “the NLC is a mere paper tiger who cannot harm anyone” considering the number of industrial disputes which it had failed to settle, making workers all over the country groan under the inept policies of successive governments.
He called on workers all over the country to defy the directive of the NLC since it had failed to prevail on State governments to implement the N18,000 minimum wage which had almost accumulated into arrears for months in some States.