As workers in Nigeria join their counterparts worldwide to commemorate International Workers’ Day, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has referred to the past year as a terrible and excruciating period for workers and other Nigerians.
Workers in various sectors, such as petroleum, electricity, maritime, manufacturing, and others, have expressed their dissatisfaction with the present level of misery, poverty, and hopelessness across the country.
They have called on the incoming government to address the worsening poverty, insecurity, unemployment, inflation, high cost of living, and frustration in the nation.
According to the General Secretary of the NLC, Emma Ugboaja, “The last one year has been torturous for Nigerians, especially workers in every sector.
Tertiary education has been severely fractured, the manufacturing sector has been comatose as energy supply, layoffs and high cost of doing business have characterized the sector.
There was no growth due to the inability of operators to access foreign exchange to buy raw materials, spare parts and other necessities.
This impacted negatively on the workers, stagnated wages and worsened unemployment and poverty in all sectors.
The cost of living has been criminally high, unemployment, poverty and insecurity of life and property are just beyond description. The last year was really bad.”
The NLC expects the incoming government to intensify the struggle for the rights and welfare of workers.
They hope the government will address the challenges in the downstream sector and restore Nigeria’s refining capacity.
The NLC recognizes that workers are the ones who keep the Nigerian economy going. Therefore, they are prepared to face the challenges ahead to ensure the country’s progress.