Nigerian workers living in worse conditions – NLC, TUC

Ahead of the 2018 Workers’ Day celebration which holds tomorrow, organised labour has said that the living conditions of Nigerian workers have never been this bad. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), at a press briefing at the weekend in Abuja, stated that Nigerian workers are living in worse conditions.

Chairman of the 2018 Joint May Day Committee, who is also the Deputy President of the NLC, Comrade Najeem Yasin, noted that as a result of the economic and political crises in the country, most workers were at the verge of losing faith in governments’ numerous promises of a better future. “There is overwhelming evidence to show that the living conditions of Nigerian workers and citizens have deteriorated in the past few years.

“To worsen the precarious condition that we workers have found ourselves is the absence of meaningful social cushioning, especially by way of decent wages and dignified working conditions. “Even the minimum wage promised by government is yet to materialize. The broader economic and political dynamics of our country continue to tempt many workers to lose faith and hope in the Nigerian promise.

“It is under these dark clouds that we seek to inspire strength, confidence and hope in Nigerian workers and ordinary Nigerians who currently feel shortchanged,” he said. On security, the Co- Chairman and Chairman TUC FCT chapter, Comrade Amodu Olayinka, said that organised labour was in partnership with all security operatives across the country to avoid a repeat of workers’ revolt as witnessed at the last May Day workers’ celebration.

New Telegraph recalls that during the 2017 May Day celebration, the workers, angered by President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s absence, had revolted against the Federal Government. Booing the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige and onetime NLC President and former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the workers rejected the President and Minister’s speeches from being read, thereby causing commotion that led to the exit of top dignitaries, including Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, and Oshiomhole from the venue.