NAN-H-43
Workers
By Angela Atabo
Abuja, May 2, 2017 (NAN) Chairman Labour and Civil Society Group, Mr Jaiye Gaskiya, has described the disruption of May Day rally by workers in Abuja on Monday as “a tale of tired Nigerians’’.
Gaskiya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the Day was not only for workers to celebrate the progress made, but also to make demands on the government and employers.
He, however, pointed out that since the Fourth Republic the day had been more of celebration of the servitude of workers rather than celebration of progress.
“I think what happened yesterday is simply a demonstration and manifestation of the fact that workers are tired and Nigerians are all tired.
“They are saying in the midst of recession, we cannot be pretending as if everything is good; you cannot tell us that workers are great and yet our salaries cannot take us home.
“What workers did on May Day was really what workers’ day should be about; it’s about protesting, it’s about making demands on authorities, on government and on employers to improve their conditions.
“I think that Nigerian workers should take a cue from this and should understand that if we are going to get out of this recession, it will require mass action from Nigerian workers.
“I also hope that the government took note of what happened so that they will know that Nigerian citizens are losing their patience.
“Gradually, politicians are beginning to lose the goodwill that brought them to office and if they are not careful, the same fate that befell the previous government will also befall them,’’ he said.
Gaskiya urged the present administration to learn from the protest and draw the appropriate cooperation of Nigerians from the lesson.
Mr Abiodun Aremu, Secretary, Joint Action Front (JAF), told NAN that May Day originally started so that workers could express themselves, recalling that when it was first declared, it was for protest.
Aremu, therefore, said that what the disruption of the rally in Abuja was not out of the norm as it was exactly the way the celebration should be.
“May Day is not a day for lies; when it was started during the Shagari administration, that year the workers declared strike.
“So, workers repeated the same thing this year to say `no more lies, no more deception, stop pretending to be friends to workers and neglect their welfare’.
“This should serve as a lesson that employees will no longer allow employers to tell them lies and abandon their rights.
“Infact, this is the best May Day ever because workers were able to say their minds about what has been eating them up, ’’ he said.
On his part, Dr Oladipo Fashina, Chairperson, Joint Action Front (JAF), said that the workers were on point with their act.
Fashina said that workers now understood that only they could change their plight in the country.
He urged them to organise themselves and be a formidable force as a party, adding that “until Nigerians get a party of the people that will protect them, they will continue to have these challenges’’.
Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said that workers reacted to the state-of-the-nation, especially the issue of minimum wage.
Ogunyemi urged the Federal Government not to dribble workers on the issue but to engage them in truthful negotiation as they were already tired of speeches.
He advised that meaningful workers’ policy should be adopted to enhance their welfare and stop the deprivation of their allowances.
He also advised that the government should not come to the negotiation table of the minimum wage with any agenda of postponing the demand because it was long overdue. (NAN)
ATAB/OPI/OPI