The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said the labour union will not be intimidated by the federal government.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the invasion of its headquarters, the letter of threat from the Registrar of Trade unions and the Arrest of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), executive, Opalua Eleojo, were acts by the federal government to intimidate the organized labour.
Ajaero also accused the federal government of insincerity in its activities and promises to Nigerians. The organized labour regretted that the government fooled citizens into believing they would buy a 50kg bag of rice at ₦40,000.
NLC President said this on Thursday, in a press conference in Abuja. “For instance, in the days preceding the End-Hunger protests, the Registrar of Trade Unions acting on orders from above wrote a letter of threat on our relationship with Labour Party, citing Section 15 (ss) 2, 3, 4 of the Trade Unions Act.
“In their bid to suppress our voice, they forgot the provisions of Sections 39 – to 40 of the 1999 constitution (as amended), the Supreme Court decision on the right of public servants to hold political views.
“The government is also frantically working to reduce to two the number of years trade unionists could hold office. This constitutes a gross interference in the internal running of the trade unions in violation of the corpus of Labour Law and ILO Conventions,” he said.
The organized labour explained that the statement by Nigeria Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuwiya Adejobi that the raid of NLC’s headquarters had nothing to do with the labour union was false.
NLC said no intentional terrorist hid in the union’s headquarters. “If the police truly had credible intelligence and if Congress was not their target, what was wrong in taking the leadership of Congress into confidence. And if they felt that would jeopardise the operation, couldn’t they have confided in the leadership at H-hour?
“The police and government should stop playing on our intellect. They should also stop diverting attention from the real issues that still stare us in the face, economic policies that continue to unleash hardship on the people.
“The insincerity of government is so manifest. They claimed they were selling bags of rice at 40k and had to stop when the rice was being resold at ₦80,000. Up till this moment no one has been able to tell us where rice was sold at ₦40,000.
“We advise the government to stop further acts of intimidation against the Nigeria Labour Congress and indeed against the generality of Nigerians,” he added.