The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has alleged that threats, arrests and intimidation of trade union leaders are on the rise, stating that they are an assault on the very soul of democracy and workers’ rights.

NLC President Joe Ajaero said this at the 14th Public Services International (PSI) Africa and Arab Countries Regional Conference (AFRECON 2025) in Ghana, with the theme ‘Quality Public Services for Dignity’.

Speaking on the increasing use of state violence as an instrument of engagement in industrial relations across the African continent and indeed Nigeria, Ajaero described it as a dangerous and unacceptable trend as well as a class war waged from above.

“We have seen it in the forceful occupation of our union offices in Nigeria, in the state capture of union leadership, in the brazen insistence of the state to anoint who leads workers, and in the unfortunate hijack of labour centres in Guinea-Bissau.

“We have seen the state rise in defence of a company that brazenly trampled upon the guaranteed rights of workers and we have seen a company demand that the extant Laws governing industrial relations in the country be changed since it does not suit their exploitative business model,” he said.

Speaking on the theme, the NLC chief said it was a fundamental demand and a battle cry from the hearts of millions of African workers who have continued to be emasculated.

Under the crushing weight of neoliberal policies, enforced by our own governments, Ajaero said the African worker is caught in a vicious paradox, stating that the harder “we work, the deeper we sink into the quicksand of poverty.”

Maintaining that work, which should be a source of emancipation and pride, has become a miry clay; “a trap that condemns us to perpetual want the more we struggle to break free. Our sweat and toil do not build our futures; they merely serve the insatiable greed of capital.

“We (workers) remain the bedrock for quality public services. If we are treated fairly and in a dignified manner, we would surely deliver public services that are of high quality. We know that in providing quality services lies our dignity, but we also realise that when the services we provide are hijacked by the greed of a few, our dignity is short-circuited. ”

However, with all the challenges, the NLC boss urged that workers must wrestle public service back from the jaws of the few and return it to the hands of the public, building a movement so resilient that it could withstand the present and future onslaughts of neoliberalism and all forces that seek to undermine their unity and subject workers to their whims and caprices.