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NLC to govts: Be ready for our action in 2024 if you owe workers

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged governments at all levels and private sector employers who were owing workers to pay the employees.

The NLC, in a new year message signed by its president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, on Sunday, December 31, 2023, noted that the congress was committed to making sure a living wage becomes possible for all Nigerian workers through a new national minimum wage and in engaging with the federal government to ensure the agreements it reached with labour in the last negotiations, especially the October agreement, were implemented.

Ajaero said the NLC has repositioned itself to more creative grapple with the forces that are holding Nigeria down in a “cesspool of underdevelopment and misery” and was also out to provide the necessary leadership that would hold government accountable, nudge it towards working for the benefit of the majority as well as recommitting to building workplaces that guarantees the rights and privileges of workers.

He said: “From every indication, 2024 will be an interesting year. Interesting because it will witness a period where all that has been taken away from workers will be restored. any private sector employer or agency of government that is therefore owing any Nigerian worker anywhere should be ready to pay up in 2024.

“We will work in collaboration with our civil society partners to generate frameworks that will build stronger and more robust civic space which ensures that our voices are heard at all times and used to check and assist the government to take the right actions that will make governance more effective and beneficial for the majority of the citizenry.

“NLC will seek to work with partners and patriots everywhere to pursue the creation of more effective structures to protect the institutions of democracy in Nigeria. We shall to this end join hands with other willing forces to begin work at strengthening our leadership recruitment processes especially the electoral framework in Nigeria. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that credibility is restored to our elections which is the foundation for enthroning a more responsive and responsible government that remains accountable thus totally anchored on the people.

“Much more, we will engage government to ensure that the agreement it reached with us in our last negotiations especially the October 2nd Agreement are implemented.”

While accessing the government of propaganda especially in the provision of palliatives to ease the difficulties and hardship imposed by the removal of fuel subsidy, Ajaero regretted that the country was more divided than it had ever been, adding that there was a deepened disconnect between govt and the citizens as a result of its harsh policies.

The NLC President added: “Divisions along our various primordial fault lines rather than heal became exacerbated this year mainly as a result of the unfortunate activities of politicians who played them up in their bid to win elections.

“Our nation has therefore become more divided than ever with growing suspicion and increasing trust deficits along those lines. Citizens’ confidence in the government is therefore deeply wounded causing a further disconnect between the people and governments as the government continues with policies that negate the welfare of citizens.

“We observe only a few pockets of progress in governance in some states but largely, the instruments of governance are mainly deployed for the sole benefits of those who believe they have captured the instruments of governance and thus use them for their sole benefit.”

The Star