The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has said it welcomed the ongoing negotiations between the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government and the organised labour – the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The Forum said a nationwide, indefinite strike as being proposed would be double jeopardy for the northerners who were already disadvantaged with policies and hardship being witnessed under the Tinubu government.

The ACF however cautioned against the public policy solutions being preached by multilateral finance organisations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This was after both parties signed a 15-point memorandum of understanding as a last minute effort to avert the planned nationwide strike.

The ACF in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur A. Muhammad-Baba further warned that a lot more remained to be done in the administration of economic policies in the country.

According to the statement, “It should be instructive to our policymakers that Southeast Asian nations pulled themselves out of the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s by largely ignoring, not by accepting, the policy prescriptions of the multilateral agencies.”

The ACF noted that these negative economic conditions were felt more in the northern states of Nigeria, “Being largely the most agrarian segment of the country with the lowest per capita incomes, poor scores in all indices of economic development and standard of living measures, etc.”

“While sympathizing with organized labour, ACF has been concerned, apprehensive and edgy that a protracted labour strike would amount to a double jeopardy for the people of the North, already disadvantaged as alluded to earlier. A middle ground was clearly indicated.”