COMMERCIAL banks, public school teachers and other civil servants in Oyo State, yesterday, complied with the strike embarked upon by the organised Labour.
The Guardian observed that many banks in Ibadan did not open for customers.

Similarly, public schools were shut as some students, who earlier went to schools, returned home when they met the schools shut.At the Ladoke Akintola Airport, labour unions were seen protesting and this affected the activities at the airport.

Also, the labour movement carried out a clampdown at the Oyo State Government Secretariat as the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) leaders, Kayode Martins and Bosun Olabiyi-Agoro, directed union members within the secretariat to go home.

Olabiyi-Agoro said the directive was in line with the national leadership mandate to have its cardinal points addressed by the current administration led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Martins insisted that compliance and enforcement of the order would be maintained until the government would do the needful for both the workers and public.

Relatedly, the strike was fully complied with in Ekiti State as workers paralysed government and commercial activities. When The Guardian visited Ado-Ekiti, the state’s main and mini secretariat and other public offices, including courts, public schools and banks, workers complied with the strike.

Also, few banks that opened for business were immediately invaded and picketed by the labour leaders to ensure total compliance. A visit to the mini state secretariat, located along the old Governor’s Office at Oke-Ori Omi in Ado-Ekiti, showed that the offices were completely shut.

In Osun State, yesterday, activities at the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, public schools, banks, power stations, law courts and the government secretariat in Osogbo were paralysed.

There was a high level of compliance to the strike. Security operatives were deployed to Government Secretariat and Osogbo Regional Transmission Company as workers deserted the premises.

Patients, who had visited the teaching hospital, were stranded, as there was no doctor, nurse and other medical personnel to attend to them. Also, many bank customers who wanted to withdraw money from the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Osogbo were disappointed, as most of the ATMs were not dispensing cash.

In Akure, Ondo State capital, workers, yesterday, complied with the strike as the gates of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were shut.
Also at the Federal Secretariat, Igbatoro Road, it was the same situation as the vast edifice turned into a ghost town over the indefinite strike.

Similarly, banks, government hospitals and court complexes were shut down. Chairman of Ondo State NLC, Victor Amoko, said that both the public and private sectors were effectively shut down in the state.

Meanwhile, the NLC and TUC have threatened to shut down the activities of any state that refuses to comply with the new minimum wage when eventually signed into law by the Federal Government.

Chairman of Ogun State Council of the TUC, Akeem Lasisi, gave the warning, yesterday, while speaking with journalists in Abeokuta. Lasisi, who spoke shortly after monitoring compliance with the strike in the state, said it would be “fire-for-fire” for any state governor that refused to implement the new minimum wage, if signed into law by the Federal Government.

He maintained that the TUC would not back down or shift ground on any of their positions until the Federal Government yields to demands. On his part, the state chairman of NLC, Hameed Benco, said that the strike would continue until the Federal Government agrees to their demands. He, therefore, urged the government to address the workers’ plight and also reverse the electricity tariff hike.

However, Yaba residents in Lagos State have lamented the nationwide strike, saying that it has disrupted their activities. A resident, Gabriel Emmanuel, lamented that the outage had disrupted his business.

He said: “There is no power. Everything is frustrating. They announced it today. I cannot cope without electricity.” Another resident, Anastacia Anyanwu, said that the road was scanty and there were no buses going her route, hence she was unable to go to work. She said: “The strike has done a lot of harm and due to the strike, I do not have light.”