A nationwide mass action has been threatened by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in response to the country’s growing poverty, insecurity, and worsening cost-of-living crisis.
It issued a warning stating that Nigerian labourers would no longer tolerate the country’s democracy and economy collapsing.
Rising from its central working committee, CWC, meeting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, which took place over the weekend at the 12th June Cultural Centre, NLC in a communiqué signed by the President, Joe Ajaero, and General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, said: “The nearly 700,000 lives lost in just a year to insecurity in Nigeria can only happen in nations at war.
Join our WhatsApp group
‘’When farmers can no longer access their lands to farm, famine becomes a looming danger.”
It denounced what it described as the government’s failure to secure lives and property and demanded immediate action.
Newsmen were informed by sources who attended the meeting that members were worried about the high level of insecurity in the nation and that no area was safe.
According to information obtained, one of the agricultural union’s officials issued a warning, stating that if farmers are killed and farmlands are destroyed, there may come a time when no one will visit the farm any more. This would have serious repercussions.
He said: “As I speak to you, many of our members have stopped going to their farms for fear of being killed. When you turn on your television or listen to the radio, you hear that 20 farmers have been killed here, 10 farmers killed there.
‘’This farmland has been destroyed, that farmland has been destroyed. We cannot continue like this. We should call on the federal government and the security agencies to step up and address the issue of insecurity across the country.
‘’If this is not done, a time will come when nobody will farm again, and the consequences will be better imagined than experienced. At that point, the food crisis and scarcity that will hit the country will be unimaginable.”
According to sources at the meeting, other contributors also lamented what they described as the government’s “talk show” approach to tackling insecurity across the country.
The NLC strongly recommended that the government impose a state of emergency on insecurity immediately and direct security forces to deal ruthlessly and decisively with criminals, particularly armed bandits and herders.
Join our WhatsApp group
In addition, NLC stated that the poverty and labourers’ suffering had escalated to unmanageable proportions, emphasising the need for quick action to prevent a national collapse.
Additionally, the NLC expressed concern about efforts by politicians to take labour matters off the exclusive legislative agenda in the ongoing constitutional review process, vowing to vigorously oppose the proposal.
In a direct threat, the congress declared: “All Nigerian workers are to begin mobilisation across the country to picket the offices of any National Assembly member found supporting the removal of labour issues from the exclusive list.”
Additionally, it charged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Minister of Finance of conspiring to deny local government funds intended for elected councils in Osun State.
NLC demanded election reforms to prohibit vote-buying and vote-rigging, true fiscal federalism, and a halt to hiring leaders based on patronage and mediocrity.
“It is utterly unacceptable that, despite the express provisions of the law, some employers continue to dictate, compel or otherwise manipulate workers to belong to specific unions,” the communiqué stated.
The congress further all affected affiliate unions to resist such actions, “mobilise and proceed to picket any employer engaging in such illegal actions.”
Join Our Social Media Channels:
WhatsApp: NaijaEyes
Facebook: NaijaEyes
Twitter: NaijaEyes
Instagram: NaijaEyes
TikTok: NaijaEyes
