The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero has said the Congress cannot be compelled to work with any other organisation in the struggle for workers’ welfare.
Ajaero said the NLC’s decision to stage a two-day protest against the rising cost of living was influenced by its National Executive Council (NEC), the highest organ of the Congress.
He said instead of having the congress to work with some organisations and suffocate its members, it preferred to work alone so that its members could breathe.
The NLC president was responding to a question on why the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was not part of Tuesday’s protest against the increasing cost of living and worsening insecurity in the land.
The NLC had declared a two-day nationwide protest on February 27 and 28 over the economic hardship being faced by Nigerians since the removal of subsidy on petrol in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu.
On Tuesday morning, the protesters commenced their march from the Labour House, Abuja while chanting solidarity songs and slogans.
Similar rallies were staged in state capitals across the country.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its NEC meeting on Tuesday, the NLC announced the suspension of the second day of the protest, saying its objectives were achieved on the first day of the rallies.
The TUC, which snubbed the protest, accused Ajaero of taking “unilateral decisions.”.
But addressing reporters yesterday in Abuja, Ajaero said: “The NLC has been a labour centre since 1977/’78. We are not contesting with anybody on power, rivalry, or even occupying the industrial space. Whatever we do is independent, and each time we talk, we say the NLC’s NEC. That is our organ.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), when they (NEC) directed us on what to do, as NAC (National Administrative Council), we obeyed. We will not come up with our own agenda.
“If we want to hold a meeting with the government or any of the labour affiliates, it will be based on the direction given to us by our highest decision-making body, which is the highest before the National Delegates’ Conference; that comes up every four years. So, we rely on it.”
“If the NEC decides that we take action, we will take action. We can look for those who have the same feeling to take the action jointly, but the NEC cannot mandate us to look for people who will help us in this instance.
“There are about 54 affiliates of the NLC. Everyone of them acts independently. If you check, NUPENG – an affiliate of the NLC – when they want to take action, they act independently. The NLC can never question NUPENG when they do so; the same thing with the NUT and NUEE. That independence is respected, even when you are under a centre. But I am not sure the NLC is under any centre; the NLC is not under any centre.
“We may decide to collaborate with anybody, any organisation, NGOs, human rights organisations, but we don’t owe them any explanation on the action we decide to take. Those organisations can still take their actions and we will not query them.
“In signing all those agreements, I sign for the NLC; people from the government sign. It is a joint agreement where everybody signs for their organisations. But that doesn’t make you perpetually bound by the Minister of Labour or anybody else because they signed the same agreement with you. Never!
“We signed on behalf of our organisations and we take decisions when we discover that such an agreement has been violated. I speak for the NLC.
“We can collaborate to take decisions, take actions but instead of us to work together and die in suffocation, we will work separately and still exist independently. It is good for people to get it clear that instead of us to work together and suffocate and punish our members, we prefer to work alone so that our members can breathe.”