The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for a greater Nigeria that works for all and ensure politics transcend religious and ethnic bias.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made the appeal in a goodwill message to workers in commemoration of Nigeria’s 62nd Independence on Saturday in Abuja.
The 2022 Independence Day message is titled: “Our Dream for a Great Nigeria will Never Die’’.
According to Wabba, it is not out of place for many Nigerians to wonder why we will be celebrating another independence of our great country in the midst of very serious developmental challenges.
“These challenges include hyper-inflation, heightened insecurity, and the reverberations of the rhymes of disunity especially as we approach a general election in 2023.
“In spite of the mounting challenges, we must reminisce of the giant footprints of the forebears, heroes from the liberation from colonial rule.
“This is particularly workers, whose sweat and blood provided a basis for a dream of a great Nigeria and a dream that would never die,’’ he said.
He added that “the truth is that however dark the night is, the day will surely break. Organised Labour has no doubt that Nigeria’s daybreak is just ahead of us”.
Wabba said “we say so because the dream of a great Nigeria which is beating heavily on our chest will never die”.
The NLC president said the working people of Nigeria have refused to give up on their dreams for a better and greater country.
He said this was the reason most of the country’s talented and dedicated workers have refused to leave the country in spite the allures of better pay and living conditions abroad.
`It is this bright dream that has kept many of our health workers in Nigeria despite the fact that their counterparts earn a fortune, but they have decided to stay here and continue serving their fellow compatriots.
“Many of our lecturers and other university workers, others whose services are highly sought after outside the shores of our country have remained here despite several disappointments from the system because the Nigerian dream still beats in their hearts.
“We can say the same for our resilient youth who have refused to join the outbound caravan in search of greener pastures. Instead of leaving, our young people have taken seriously the dream of a greater country,’’ he said.
The NLC president added that this was “the reason they have dared fear in this season of political contestation. They are asking the right questions”.
Wabba said the youths are making effective demands and have taken their own destiny, saying they are not giving or accepting “shishi”.
He therefore said that the youths are dreaming for a Nigeria where university students would not stay at home for seven months simply because elected public officials prefer to send their kids abroad and forget the kids of workers and the poor at home.
According to him, the Nigeria of our dreams is where government will not allow citizens on board its own train services to be killed, maimed, kidnapped, and brutalised in the bush nearly seven months now and government appears helpless.
“The Nigeria of our dreams is where infrastructure works, adequate electricity to power the potentials of our youths and working people of our country, where public schools and public hospitals are mostly free, affordable and efficient.
“It is also where workers are paid living wages and earn decent minimum wages without having to negotiate endlessly and subsequently when eventually negotiated fight state governors for months on end for the minimum wage to hit workers’ bank accounts,’’ he said.
He added that it is also where government takes its role as the moral compass of society seriously and so do not threaten workers with “no work… no pay” and still expect workers to abdicate their right to “no pay… no work”.
Wabba also said a Nigeria, where pensioners are paid their entitlements promptly without the need to be subjected to the humiliation of queuing up hours on end.
He said a country, where workers would be paid their gratuity immediately after their disengagement from public service and were not made to wait endlessly by self-serving elected public officials who award undeserving pension and other eye-watering severance packages.
According to him, the Nigeria our heart yearns for is a country where Production Economy replaces Consumption Economy – where our factories and agricultural plantations are revitalised and where our young people can find gainful jobs.
“It is a country where public refineries work and where mass importation of refined petroleum products with all the severe socio-economic dislocations is made a thing of the past.
“Our dream Nigeria shows the way by using continental and global instruments such as African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to inspire other African countries that an socio-economically emancipated Africa is possible.
“The Nigeria of our dream is a country that works for everyone – where there is the rule of law, where every citizen has a sense of belonging wherever they are and do not need to live in perpetual fear of lurking evil,’’ he said.
The NLC leader however called on those seeking elective political offices in the 2023 general elections to ensure that they captured the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands in their plans
