Nigerian workers under the umbrella of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, say President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his government were unfaithful in their promises to workers in 2023.
Joe Ajaero, President of the NLC, slammed the Tinubu government for not keeping to agreements with Nigerian workers despite the patience demonstrated by the labour unions.
Ajaero said that members of the Union have faced uncertainties, overcome obstacles, and witnessed moments that may have left them feeling disheartened.
The Labour leader said that the government had failed to live up to expectations on the promise of N35,000 provisional wage for three months, completion of the Port Harcourt refinery, and implementation of the Compressed Natural Gas initiative.
“The N35,000 Wage Award has not been faithfully implemented; the Port Harcourt PH refinery has not come on stream as projected while the National Minimum Wage Negotiation Council has not been inaugurated as agreed; agents of government have distorted the Compressed Natural Gas CNG project for the benefit of a few,” he said.
“Whether these have been faithfully implemented is open to every discerning Nigerian.
Ajaero described 2023 as a year when Nigerians saw the increasing use of violence and propaganda as tools of engagement in the nation’s industrial relations sphere.
He said, “The boundary between the tools used in electioneering and in actual governance seems to have been ruptured as the same mindless violence and crudity witnessed during the last election cycle is now being used by those in government as a weapon in managing workplace relations in Nigeria.
‘We have 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
The organized labour comprising the NLC and Trade Union Congress, TUC, declared a nationwide strike over fuel subsidy removal in September’
