Nigerians should understand and see the new minimum wage negotiation for workers as a collective struggle not only a battle for organised labour, the Nigeria Labour Congress emphasized on Monday.
According to the organization, all hands must be on deck from the beginning of the negotiation, ending and its implementation to ensure that workers overcome those who have already made up their minds to subject Nigerians to starvation.
The President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, represented by General Secretary, Benson Upah, stated these in Abuja during the International Centenary Conference in memory of the passage of Vladimir Lenin, a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist with the theme, “Lenin, Leninism, Africa and The World.”
Arise News reports that Lenin served as the first and founding head of Government of Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1924 and of the Soviet Union (1922 – 1924).
The appeal by NLC came amid disclosure by the Federal Government that a panel to negotiate a new national minimum wage for public sector workers would be inaugurated before the end of January.
The minimum wage was reviewed from N18, 000 to N30, 000 on April 18, 2019 and signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Following the removal of subsidy payment on petroleum products by the government, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) have been advocating for a wage increase.
One of the demands of Labour was an upward review of the national wage to N200, 000.
Ajaero said Nigerian workers were simply asking for a living wage, adding that “it is only when we work together as Comrades that we can achieve this.”
He said the celebration of Lenin was a singular opportunity for Nigerians to rethink the nation’s political strategy and make it more practical to avoid the mistakes made since 1999.
The NLC President said, “As we march into 2027, what will Lenin have us do? As the comprador bourgeoises who have seized the reins of power in our nation and have continued to decimate all institutions of governance using them to subjugate, impoverish and incapacitate the sovereign will, tramples upon workers and masses, what will the apostles of Lenin do? As our collective resources are plundered by the forces of international capital and further looted with impunity by those in the corridors of power, will Lenin apostles fold their arms?
“Would Lenin instruct us to stand in our separate enclaves to engage the vicissitudes of the petroleum price hike which has decimated the poor in our nation while enriching our politicians and the wealthy? Would Lenin require us to stand aloof while workers are paid pittance and the general income of the people are destroyed by the anti-people policies of the government? What would Lenin have us do comrades?
“That is why it is important that at this juncture that I invite all of us as we prepare to negotiate the national minimum wage this year not to see it as a struggle for the NLC and TUC but a collective struggle. I request that we all join hands together from the beginning of the negotiation exercise to the end of it and to its ultimate implementation so that we can overcome those who have already made up their minds to pay Nigerians a starvation wage. We seek for a Living Wage and it is only when we work together as comrades that we can achieve this”.
While calling for the entrenchment of Lenin’s ideology for a just society, former Country Representative of ActionAid Nigeria, Ene Obi, said the NLC and TUC have been sleeping in the face of anti- people happenings in the country and needs to wake up.
She made comparison in the price of petrol in less than a year from N165 naira to N617, all in 2023, adding that nothing has happened.
The activist said studentship in the country’s tertiary institutions have been reduced with the inability to invest in human capital.
Obi emphasized the need to encourage students to develop an ideology before graduation, while sayiy that the centenary commemoration of Lenin could not have come at a better time than now.
While lamenting that poverty goes hand in hand with being a student, she said the 140 million poor nigerians who are most students cannot afford to pay tuition even in public institutions due to the hike in fees.
She said, “The NLC and TUC have to wake up. In this country, just when we went to bed with the knowledge that petrol is N165, today it is N617 and nothing has happened. Studentship has reduced and we are not investing in human capital. There no ideologies these days and even our students in tertiary institutions are bereft of the importance of been taught ideologies before graduation.
“Poverty and studentship are working hand in hand now. Many of the poor who have gained admission in tertiary institutions have been unable to register as students due to high school fees.
“Nigerian government gave scholarships to students of public universities and even to go overseas, but this is history today. What happens to the children of the 140 poor Nigerians. How do we move forward from wherever are?
“The Parliament is led by governor’s who have looked their states and they hold government in a way that the can’t be challenged. The largest country in Africa is going down and we need to salvage it.”
The Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdullah Abu Shawesh alleged that the United States, as one of the world super powers, has thrown its full weight in support of Israel in the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine over claims of Gaza.
He said the war which commenced in October 2023 has claimed the lives of not less than 300,000 Palestinians who are mostly women and children and with over 60 percent of Gaza been destroyed as of today.
Recognizing the contributions of Lenin in having a just society, Shawesh said the American government has not been hiding its commitment on the country it has chosen to support and in making matters worse, he said even the western media have been complacent in their reportage about the true sufferings of the Palestinian people whom he noted are communist and socialist in what they stand for.
He said, “I grew up as a communist. This is a long war between imperialism and building a just world all over and not just about the Israelis and Palestinians, or the Palestinians and the Israelis. Already, 300,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis and they are mostly women and children. As at today, 60 percent of Gaza had been destroyed by the Israelis.
“The Israelis are not hiding when they’re talking about other countries especially in Africa concerning them opening doors to the Palestinians. We thank South Africa for this and we all must know that no one can be safe until all have been saved. There must be justice for everyone and thinks very important.
“Again, we thank the South Africa for suing this criminality and this shouldn’t be just Israel, but America as well. America is fully in support of the genocide taking place and majority of the western media have been complacent to what has been happening to the Palestinians.”
Friday Olokor
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