The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has taken steps to avert the impending nationwide strike of the Nigeria Labour Congress, billed to commence on Wednesday.

The labour union had threatened to embark on the nationwide industrial action, if the cash crunch, fuel scarcity and electricity tariff increase were not addressed.

In response to the strike threat by the NLC, Ngige invited the leadership of the NLC and the Central Bank of Nigeria management to a meeting in his office on Monday, to resolve their differences.

The 10-man delegation of the NLC was led by its President, Joe Ajaero, and the General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, while the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was accompanied by two Deputy Governors, Kingsley Obiora (Economic Policy) and Ade Shonubi (Organised Private Sector).

Making his opening remarks, Ngige refuted the allegation by the NLC that his mnistry did nothing about the matter.

He said on receiving the letter from NLC, he forwarded same to the CBN Governor before travelling out of the country for an International Labour Organisation Governing Board meeting and directed the Permanent Secretary and Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations Department to follow up.

On his own part, Emefiele said when he received the letter from the labour ministry, he called the President of NLC to brief him on steps taken to alleviate the sufferings of the masses.

He said he went further to have a meeting with NLC president, which he said resulted in the large volume of funds made available to the deposit money banks.

Ajaero urged the CBN to improve on their services, regretting the information gap created in the implementation of the naira redesign.

He said, “The NLC could not have stopped CBN from taking good decisions and implementing them in the interest of the nation. If stakeholders were invited and briefed on the policy, when the people complain, NLC would explain everything to them. But in this case, the CBN did it alone. Moreover, it is a wrong time for administering such a national policy.”

He said the National Executive Committee of NLC will meet today to take a decision on the planned strike.

Worried by seemingly strange predictions and hyped religious ventilations over political issues in the country, the Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe, has said that such new phenomenon if left unchecked may further create bad blood among Nigerians.

Runsewe disclosed that the current rash of predictive political slants across Nigeria’ s diverse religious and cultural ecosystem threatens the fabric of Nigeria’s peace and security, a time bomb that may blow up the country into pieces.

“It is becoming evident that predictions and not prophecy, is the new game in town. From football to Cricket, wrestling, dancing competitions and lately, politics, some Nigerians who claimed to hear from God, now, oxygenate, escalate and poison the socioeconomic and political space with laughable and troubling positions, not minding the negative impact of such predictive actions on the emotional intelligence of the people,” Runsewe explained further.

Concerned that the rash of predictions all over the country from strange enclaves, particularly on the political front, Runsewe who is also the President, Africa Region, World Craft Council, appealed to Nigerians to ignore the purveyors of such mercantile predictions but hold to the best cultural and religious teachings that binds Nigerians together, and on not issues that may further polarise and set Nigerians against each other.

“We at NCAC are gravely concerned and had in the past, worked together with religious leaders across the divide to restore peace to some troubled parts of the country, from Jos, Kaduna and Abuja. We also networked with our traditional rulers during each celebrations of National Festival of Arts and Culture ( Nafest), to horn the quest to live together in peace and harmony, which engenders national development . When our children were toeing the lines of strange foreign influences, we reached out to our national women societies and groups to nip the process in the bud. We shall also target this avalanche of predictions given a religious face, and arrest its dangerous influence on our once peaceful and tolerant society.

“The tension created by drivers of this predictive vehicles across board is becoming increasingly worrisome. Some young persons unguided have met with untimely death when their football teams, and or iconic diverse players and participants in regional or global entertainment and sports events, so predicted to win, failed in such quests. The predictive melancholy has hit the political space in Nigeria like a Hurricane and every where is charged. We must not as Nigerians allow this unfortunate situation to persist and destroy us. The tribal slurring must also be stopped by all means. As Nigerians, we must unite and line up behind the best religious, cultural and historical narratives that binds us together and nothing more. Our cultural diversity is superior and which entails that we must respect each others cultural sensitivities” Runsewe clarified.

The United Kingdom has said the mission is working on the list of those it will slam with visa ban.

It also said the mission had between five and 10 names on its list already, adding that more would still be added.

The Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, spoke on a current affairs programme on Nigerian Info on Sunday.

He said the names of defaulters would not be published as expected in some quarters.

The British High Commission had last week said the UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell MP, was prepared to take action against those who engaged in or incited electoral violence during the just-concluded general elections.

The high commission said the UK was already collating names of perpetrators and would impose sanctions “including preventing people from obtaining UK visas or imposing sanctions under our human rights sanctions regime.”

Speaking on Sunday, Llewellyn-Jones said, “We’re working through a list and we don’t publish those names. I know people say we should but you know we have laws that protect. But we do have a list. We said that we would do this and we will do this. And, you know, we’re gathering the kind of information that would enable us to do this around specific individuals.

“You know, we watched very closely. I was in Lagos the whole time. We had people on the ground in key places. We won’t publish the names. We don’t do that. We can’t do that. We have between five and 10  names on its list already, it is a growing list. “

Responding to a question on if there were triggers for violence leading up from the campaign to the election,  Llewellyn-Jones decried the controversial statement attributed to a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, Femi Fani-Kayode.

He also lamented that the ruling APC had yet to distance itself from some comments made by Fani-Kayode.

He said, “There were some people in the news, like Fani-Kayode. What is he saying? Why is he saying it? I don’t understand. I mean, I do understand but it’s wrong. And it’s wrong from my perspective that he would speak on behalf of a party and that party doesn’t just distance themselves but says stop doing that.”

Llewellyn-Jones also condemned the divisive politics that played out during the election in Lagos, adding, ”And if Lagos can’t be that kind of cosmopolitan melting pot of culture and language and all the things that should be, really how’s Lagos going to succeed?”

Reacting on his Twitter handle at @realFFK, Fani-Kayode urged the British envoy to steer clear Nigeria’s issue.

He said, “I would advise this Ben, who I am told is the Deputy High Commissioner of the UK to Nigeria, to keep his dirty nose out of our internal affairs.

“Nigeria stopped being a British colony 63 years ago and we need no lessons from him on how to run our affairs or conduct our politics.”

He also accused the envoy of supporting an undisclosed candidate in the just concluded presidential election.

“I know that his preferred candidate did not win the presidential election but that does not mean he should cross the line and take liberties with us here. I wonder who the hell he thinks he is?

“I am not one of those Nigerians that bow, shake, shiver and tremble before the British or indeed any other foreigner.”