The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have declared 2017 as the most difficult year for Nigerians in recent history. In separate New Year messages, the Organised Labour vowed to make government accountable in 2018. The NLC, referring to a report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics which indicated that over four million Nigerians lost their jobs in 2017, said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration made life more difficult for Nigerians by pushing more workers into poverty.
"We shall hold government accountable in the New Year,” NLC President Ayuba Wabba said.“Rather than work to create jobs and improve the conditions of workers and Nigerians in general, leading elements in the ruling APC government, like Governor Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna state), have been taking measures to further chastise and ruin Nigerians by throwing tens of thousands of workers into the already saturated unemployment market and wretchedness.”
It vowed to mobilise workers for the full payment of their outstanding salaries and pensions in the New Year. On its part, the TUC said Nigerians were subjected to various dehumanising conditions in 2017.“It is no news that pensioners (our senior servants), who served this country meritoriously, die on a daily basis, even at verification locations throughout the country,” the union, in a statement by its President, Bobboi Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, said.
"Though their pension is not paid yet, they are burdened to feed their graduate children who are yet to get jobs five years after graduation.“This is not the best of times in our country as Nigerians are subjected to various dehumanising conditions. How do we explain that in the midst of the gruelling fuel scarcity, many workers are still being owed up to six months salaries?”
The TUC alleged that some state governors had diverted the bailouts released to them by the Federal Government to enable them to pay workers backlogs of salaries.
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