NLC threatens strike Dec. 1, demands wage review over worsening hardship

Alleges gang-up against Nigerians on petrol pricing 

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to initiate a series of industrial actions in all non-compliant states over refusal to implement the new national minimum wage, directing all state councils where the wage has not been fully implemented by the last day of November 2024 to proceed on strike beginning from December 1, 2024.

The Congress said it would not relent until the minimum wage is fully implemented nationwide. It also called for a wage review across the country over worsening hardship, including a review of all the policies that emasculated Nigerian people.

In a communiqué of the National Executive Council (NEC) of NLC after a meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over the weekend, on the state of the nation, its President, Joe Ajaero, lamented that with accelerating economic hardship inflicted upon Nigerians, unchecked rising inflation, with the cost of necessities spiralling beyond the reach of the average worker, millions of Nigerians were being driven into destitution, forced to choose between feeding their families and seeking healthcare.

According to him, access to energy has become a mirage while workers become increasingly poorer, even as they work longer hours to meet their basic needs; as a result, nutritional diseases like Kwashiorkor and Marasmus resurfaced.

To address this, he said, the NLC demands immediate, concrete interventions from the Federal Government, not token measures, to relieve the suffering, putting in place a wage review nationwide, including a review of all the policies that have rather emasculated Nigerian people.

He called for the implementation of comprehensive social protection policies that shield Nigerians from poverty, provide affordable healthcare, and ensure a wage that reflects the true cost of living.

On the minimum wage, he said “the betrayal by certain governors and government officials across the country flies in the face of both legality and morality,” as workers continue to be denied their rightful wages amid rising economic hardship.

Ajaero lamented that it was a blatant disregard for the law and the lives of millions of Nigerian workers, who are being exploited by the very leaders sworn to protect them.

The NLC chief revealed that the congress resolved to set up a National Minimum Wage Implementation Committee that would, among others, commence a nationwide assessment, mobilisation and sensitisation campaign, educating workers and citizens on the need to resist the assault on workers’ dignity and rights.

On petrol pricing and the urgent need for activating public refineries, Ajaero alleged a gang-up against Nigerians by fat cats in the industry as the price of the product “is significantly higher” than the real market price.

Padding of costs and abnormal margins, according to him, seems to be the order of the day considering the revelations from the ongoing controversy between marketers and Dangote Group.

He alleged that it was entirely possible that Nigerian workers and masses were being ripped off by those who control the levers of economic power in Nigeria, which explains why the domestic public refineries might not immediately be allowed to come on stream.

To this end, the NLC demands appropriate pricing of petrol and calls for the refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna to quickly come back on stream to break the monopolistic stranglehold the big players have on the industry.

On the political situation in Rivers and unjust revenue withholding, the NLC demanded an immediate resolution that would allow the state to continue to have unfettered access to its rightful revenue allocations, stating that Nigerian workers would not stand waiting while their livelihoods were threatened by political manoeuvrings and vindictive actions.

The NEC also demanded the provision of more Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses to the NLC and the establishment of needed infrastructure for their fuelling and maintenance to provide cheaper transportation to Nigerian workers across the nation.