Organized Labour on Sunday bade farewell to 2023, describing it as a year that tested the collective strength and resilience of Nigerians.
In an end of year message to all Nigerian, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero said while bidding farewell to the challenges and triumphs of the past year, he foresees 2024 as an interesting year that the rights that were taken away from workers would be restored.
He urged private sector employers or agencies of government owing their workers to be ready to pay up in 2024 or face the wrath of workers.
“In 2023, we witnessed two major agreements – June 5th and October 2nd Agreements – signed between the federal government and NLC and TUC. Whether these have been faithfully implemented or not is open for every discerning Nigerian to see”, Ajaero said.
Despite the challenges, Ajaero said organized Labour, through its actions so far, demonstrated enormous patience with the present administration, resulting in it being accused of being settled by the government.
Although he said the Labour leadership was prepared to continue to take the right actions to keep the country from fifth columnists who are determined to destroy it. In all of these, he accused the Tinubu government of showing enormous unfaithfulness in keeping to agreements.
He cited a number policies the government has not faithfully implemented, including the N35,000 Wage Award to workers, and the Port Harcourt refinery, which has not come on stream as projected,
The other policies include the National Minimum Wage Negotiation Council has not been inaugurated as agreed, as well as the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which has been distorted by agents of government for the benefit of a few.
The NLC President pointed out that the divisions along the nation’s various primordial fault lines rather than heal became exacerbated in 2023 mainly as a result of the unfortunate activities of politicians who played them up in their bid to win elections.
“Our nation has therefore become more divided than ever, with growing suspicion and increasing trust deficits along those lines. Citizens’ confidence in the government is therefore deeply wounded, causing further disconnect between the people and governments as government continues with policies that negate the welfare of citizens,” Ajaero said.
Noting only few pockets of progress in governance in some states, the Labour leader pointed out that same were deployed largely as instruments of governance for the sole benefits of those who believe they have captured the instruments of governance to use for their sole benefit.
He said 2023 was also a year where Nigerians saw increasing use of violence and unrivaled propaganda as tools of engagement in the nation’s industrial relations sphere.
The boundary between the tools used in electioneering and in actual governance, the NLC President noted appeared to have ruptured, as the same mindless violence and crudity witnessed during the last election cycle was now being used by those in government as a weapon in managing workplace relations in the country.
Labour, he said, witnessed government’s interference in the internal affairs of trade unions all in a bid to capture the levers of power in these unions and use them to seek to hold the civic space in our nation hostage and thwart citizens efforts at holding the government accountable.
Ajaero recalled his abduction and brutalization along with other workers by the government and the Police in Owerri Imo State on November 1, 2023, citing the incident as a further demonstration of government’s contempt for workers.
The NLC President said the Labour movement in the country was surprised if there was a link between his attack along with other workers and the refusal of the government to implement the Wage Award as agreed in the October 2nd MOU between the federal government and organized Labour.
He said such coincidence was ominous and raised questions to further justify the strong belief in the conspiracies to mete out violence against trade union leaders.
The Hope Uzodimma-led government in Imo state, the NLC President said, was still abusing and violating the rights and interests of workers, as many workers were still being owed years in arrears of salaries, gratuities, pension.
Besides, he said thousands of workers were still being declared ghost workers, while the NLC secretariat vandalized and stripped by the state government has remained desolate.
Despite the harassment, the NLC President Nigerians and the workers would continue to act together to hold government accountable at all times.
Reviewing 2023, Ajaero said the year was generally turbulent for workers and the Nigerian people as the negative economic policies of the government began to bite harder on poor Nigerians as predicted.
Workers, he said, have continue to grapple with the worst forms of deprivations, as they are unable to meet their basic needs, while transportation to work continues to be a nightmare.
“Nigerian masses have experienced the worst form or angst and suffering as access to basic nutrition has become more difficult, while education and basic social utilities have become the sole purview of the rich.
“The 2023 festive season has been made so difficult for the masses that the usual joy associated with the season was replaced with worries and anxiety all over the nation.
“Government’s half-hearted attempts at providing succour was largely mere propaganda and never had any impact on the high cost of transportation across the nation. Our Naira continues in its free fall in all markets, while governments, both federal and states, continue in their reckless borrowing and spending in the name of governance,” Ajaero said.
He expressed Labour’s worry at the haste at which government officials rush to eat the future of Nigerians by borrowing and frittering them away, putting the future of unborn generation in jeopardy.
“As it stands today, Nigeria needs about 12% more than our annual revenue to service our debt stock, meaning that we have to borrow to ever be able to service our debts. Another debt trap has been unleashed on the population. Governments should act more responsibly in its debt activities,” he said.
On the current cash scarcity, the NLC described the CBN explanation that the problem was as a result of cash hoarding as sad, saying workers incomes were too meagre to have any leftover cash to hoard.
If by any stretch of imagination, the CBN’s excuse was real, he said Nigerians know those who are hoarding the cash, adding that no sensible person would hoard the Naira as a store of value at this time when the Naira was receiving its greatest bashing.
Urging the CBN to immediately inject cash into the economy to stop the exploitation of Nigerian masses and reduce the hardship, Ajaero said if CBN did not realize it, Nigerians are today paying at least 5% of their money to free their money held hostage.
On the destruction of lives and properties in 2023, the NLC President lamented the recent killings in Plateau and Taraba states during this yuletide, saying allowing the blood of Nigerians to flow in the streets without any outrage across the nation showed the level we have degenerated.
Saying the combined forces of negative government policies and insecurity have made Nigerians become more fearful of the future now more than ever before, Ajaero said they are truly having their expectations dashed and their hopes betrayed by the ruling elite.
Despite these adversities, the NLC said it was crucial for Nigerians to recognize that although it may have seemed hopeless during 2023, together they can make 2024 better.
“The spirit of unity and solidarity that defines our great nation has seen us through numerous trials in the past, and it will undoubtedly guide us towards a brighter future.
“That future can only come with our resolve to act together as we reposition ourselves to act better and more creatively to grapple with the forces that are holding our nations down in a cesspool of underdevelopment and misery.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress is committed to providing the necessary leadership as we move into the new year to ensure that we responsibly hold the government accountable and nudge it towards working for the benefit of the majority,” he said.
The NLC, he said, would be committed in 2024 towards ensuring that a living wage becomes possible for all Nigerian workers by working with others to secure a National Minimum Wage that approximates the dictates of the various parameters that make incomes humane and grants access to basic necessities of life for the average worker.
“From every indication, 2024 will be an interesting year. Interesting. because it will witness a period where all that has been taken away from workers will be restored. Any Private sector employer or agency of government that is therefore owing any Nigerian worker anywhere should be ready to pay up in 2024.
“We will work in collaboration with our civil society partners to generate frameworks that will build stronger and more robust civic space which ensures that our voices are heard at all times and used to check and assist the government to take the right actions that will make governance more effective and beneficial for the majority of the citizenry.
“We will engage the government to ensure that the agreement it reached with us in our last negotiations, especially the October 2nd Agreement are implemented.
“Challenges may persist, but our collective resolve to build a stronger, more prosperous Nigeria remains unwavering. The Nigeria Labour Congress remains committed to advocating for the rights and well-being of workers across the nation, and we encourage all Nigerians to join hands in the pursuit of a better tomorrow.”
