No respite yet for Nigerian workers

Today is Workers Day, an an­nual global event marked every May 1 to celebrate and direct attention to the problems and achievements of workers in all parts of the world. It is also a day to review the efforts of the organised labour movement in its quest to defend the rights and interests of workers. As usual during such events, workers in Nigeria will throng different ven­ues across the 36 states and Abuja to express their views on the various policies of government and their em­ployers, and how these have affected their lives and working conditions.

Interestingly, the focus of May Day has shifted from the initial campaign to win an 8-hour workday for work­ers to their general welfare. Even though the immediate outcome of the first wave of workers’ demonstra­tions in the United States that gave birth to the celebration in 1886 was a tremendous setback for the labour movement in the short term, work­ers eventually turned the defeat into victory for generations of workers all over the world.

While we congratulate Nigerian workers on today’s celebration that will expectedly elicit speeches from labour leaders and government of­ficials, there is no debating the fact that today’s celebration has come at a somber period in our national his­tory. As labour leaders renew their usual calls for unity among workers to fight the unfair working conditions in the country, we cannot but note the impact of the growing insecurity in the country on the lives and morale of working class Nigerians.

This is more so in the northern part of the country, especially the North-East geo-political zone where insur­gents continue to unleash attacks resulting in loss of lives, destruction of property and abduction of innocent citizens.

This has made socio-economic exis­tence difficult for many workers, who now live and work in threatening cir­cumstances that endanger their lives. In a society that is sharply divided into those who have and those that don’t, where poor governance and bad poli­cies have worsened the condition of an average worker, deep introspec­tion is needed today by all stake­holders on how to better the lives of workers. The theme for today’s celebration, “Building en­during peace and unity: Panacea for sustainable national development”, is apt. It points at the need to work for peace and unity in the country, with­out which neither workers nor the en­tire country can make progress.

Beyond the challenges of disunity and insecurity threatening to tear the country apart, Nigerian workers are faced with other debilitating problems such as unemployment, inflation, ir­regular payment of salaries, looting of the pensions funds of retirees, and incessant strikes, some of which do not meet the conditions of the Trade Dispute Act.

In fact, Nigerian workers are groan­ing under poor standard of living, which has adversely affected their productivity. In spite of the much-touted economic growth, many work­ers earn poor salaries, and a lot of Nigerians live on less than $1 a day. Casualisation, a form of slavery long forbidden by law, is still used by many employers in the country, while living wage is not yet a reality in the civil service, which is the life-blood of the public sector.

Government at all levels should use this occasion to address these dete­riorating conditions in which Nige­rian workers have found themselves, and improve their welfare by initiat­ing realistic programmes to eliminate all anti-labour practices and create a conducive work environment.

Though we commend the Federal Government for being part of the pro­posed 600,000 housing units launched yesterday in Karsana, Abuja, by Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan, that is just one of the projects Nigerian work­ers think government and the labour movement should give urgent atten­tion since shelter is a crucial human need. But, much more needs to be done. These include tackling the cur­rent rate of unemployment, the pow­er sector problem and the constant threats of industrial action. Because of these problems, private investment in Nigeria remains abysmal, at 14 per­cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is not enough to ginger economic growth in the real sector, the newly rebased GDP notwithstand­ing.

Altogether, there is no doubt that the present condition of the country is so discouraging. We, therefore, urge the government, organised labour and all workers to use the Workers Day to re­flect deeply on these problems and come up with realistic propositions on how to resolve them.