HomeBattaFilesHas Nigeria Labour Congress Become Toothless Dog That Can't Bite?

Has Nigeria Labour Congress Become Toothless Dog That Can’t Bite?

Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) threatened to embark on strike action on Wednesday, June 7 against the increment in price of petrol occasioned by President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech in which he declared that “fuel subsidy is gone”.

NLC president, Joe Ajaero, said the government, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had up until Wednesday to revert to the old price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise referred to as petrol.

However, the labour unions announced the suspension of the proposed industrial actions after a meeting between their leaders and representatives of the federal government on Monday.

For many Nigerians, the decision of the labour leadership shows that they throw their weight behind the same ruling class that has infected the country with artificial fuel subsidies, and many other irregularities.

The refusal of NLC to stage protest against the hardship being faced by Nigerians is one of the reasons why many people now regard organised labour as a toothless dog that cannot bite but only bark.

Nigerians argued that the NLC has developed a penchant over the years for mass public deception over issues of serious national importance.

“These NLC and TUC leaders were catching cruise with FG instead of negotiating Subsidy Removal palliative. They suspended the #NLCStrike without addressing the fundamental issues. How do they expect workers to commute to work?”, a twitter user queried. 

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Also, the Coalition of Northern Groups says its observes that at every occasion, the NLC would deceive the public into believing they are protecting their interests, only to betray the course, negotiate with the government at the expense of the suffering masses.

“The first instance was the NLC protests over harsh economic policies of the Buhari government in February 2017 which came to an aprupt end without achieving any results and no convincing explanation to the public. Then came the September 2018 strike which was also terminated after the NLC met with government officials and compromised the effort with no effect.

“The worst scenario was the October 2020 organised labour plan to shut down the entire economy in protest over the increase in the pump price of petrol and a hike in electricity tariff. However, the strike was called off at the last minute after a meeting between government officials and labour leaders in Abuja,” the group said in a statement seen by BattaFiles.

Omole Ibukun, a human rights activist, says labour leaders keep reminding him of the proverb that says “a barking dog does not bite”. 

“If the TUC and NLC leaders are so busy with action or preparation for actions, they won’t find it easy to issue so many empty threats and promises. They excuse this emptiness of their threats as strategic patience, but it’s interesting how they have not run out of patience since 2019, and how their strategy is yet to work after a whole political term.”