All public and civil servants in the Imo State Civil Service, yesterday, joined their colleagues in other states of the federation in the indefinite strike declared by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in protest against the recent increase of pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145.40 per litre. This is in contravention to the state government’s earlier directive to the workers through the state head of service, Calistus Ekenze not to participate in the strike, warning that anything to the contrary would amount to summary dismissal from service.
However, market women, banks, filling station, commercial vehicle drivers and private schools carried out their normal operations uninterrupted, while the civil service secretariat which is situated on Port Harcourt road was completely deserted by the angry workers just as the premises of the Owerri municipal council depicted a picture of an abandoned premises.
Conversely, a visit to the office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), indicated that the workers were performing their normal duties, just as none of them was willing to comment on why they shunned the strike action.
Expectedly, security was beefed up in all strategic locations in the town following rumoured plan by the workers to attack institutions that failed to join the strike.
The state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Austine Chilakpu in an interview confirmed that the workers were on strike, explaining that it was embarked upon following the arbitrary increase of the fuel pump price by the Federal Government.