Lagos court bans workers from striking

A Lagos high court has banned a planned strike by Nigeria’s main trade union which wants state employees to earn the same minimum wages as their federal counterparts, AFP reported an official as saying on Wednesday. The court granted a request from Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu to prevent some 45,000 workers from striking, AFP reported the governor’s spokesman, Segun Ayobolu, as saying. Nigeria’s government raised the national minimum wage from 250 naira (around US $2.5) to 5,500 naira (about US $55) per month in early May. President Olusegun Obasanjo also approved a rise in the minimum monthly wage for federal employees such as civil servants and police to 7,500 naira, up from 3,500, according to ‘The Guardian.’ Obasanjo urged governments in Nigeria’s 36 states to negotiate with their workers using 5,500 naira as a benchmark, AFP reported. Two weeks ago the Lagos chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress served a strike notice to the governor following his refusal to agree to federal minimum wage levels, AFP reported.