Abubakar due to meet governors-elect to stop strike

Nigeria's military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, might meet in the capital Abuja on Tuesday with the country's 36 governors-elect to discuss an indefinite public sector strike over minimum wage levels which started last week. The independent daily, 'The Guardian', said on Monday that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had indicated its willingness to call off the strike in any affected state immediately the government "puts in motion relevant machinery" for implementing the 3,000 naira (US $32) minimum wage. Workers said they would not call off the action unless the state governments agreed to the new package. The NLC has accused state administrators of "instigating the crisis" by their failure to pay the minimum wage, despite a federal government directive last Friday instructing them to do so, 'The Guardian' added. Meanwhile Nigeria's main teaching union called on its members to start strike action on Monday in support of their colleagues in the public sector, AFP reported.