By Pascal Ibe
Claim
An X platform named Trending Explained on Wednesday claimed that Nigeria’s senate moved a bill that will stop NLC and TUC from shutting down National Grid & Airports in next strike.
Verdict
This claim is Misleading. No reputable news organization in Nigeria reported this claim.
However, the Nigerian senate slammed the organized labour for shutting down the national grid. .
Full Text
An X platform named Trending Explained on Wednesday claimed that the senate has passed bill to stop organised labour from shutting down the national grid and airports over demand for new minimum wage.
Trending Explained wrote , “BREAKING:
Nigeria’s senate moves a bill that will stop NLC and TUC from shutting down National Grid & Airports in next strike.
This post by Trending Explained gained over 5k. Many X users agreed that this story is true
Verification
First, thefactwatch ran a thorough search on Google and Bing to see if any reputable news organization in Nigeria reported this claim.
But results showed this claim cannot be found anywhere. Rather the senate berated the organized labour for deliberately shutting down the national grid and other important sectors of the economy to demand for new minimum wage.
News organizations who reported the reaction of the senate to shutting down of national grid and airports are; Channels TV, Vanguard news, Blueprint, etc.
According to Channel TV, the Senate expressed worry over the implications of the shutdown of the National Grid and disruption of hajj flights, among other actions taken by the Organised Labour during the nationwide strike for a new minimum wage.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, indicated this during the commencement of plenary on Tuesday, as he halted a robust debate by lawmakers on the industrial action, saying that shutting down the grid is tantamount to economic sabotage rather than an agitation.
In a report by Blueprint newspaper, the Senate specifically declared that the shut down of the National Grid by some labour unionists was more of economic sabotage than agitation for new minimum wage and also disruption of Hajj flight.
It consequently declared that such situation would not be allowed to re – occur as laws against it would be reflected in the new national minimum wage Act that would be enacted soon after submission of bill to that effect by the executive.
Conclusion
The claim by Trending Explained is Misleading.
The Senate has not passed any bill to stop organized labour from shutting down the national grid.
