Main – Page 2 – Nigeria Solidarity

May Day: No Plan for Concrete Action from Labour against Anti-Poor Policies of Tinubu Government

This year May Day held at a period when many workers and the poor are facing serious economic hardship compounded by the anti-poor capitalist policies of the Bola Tinubu government. Another feature of the government which will reach a midterm mark on May 29 is a ceaseless attack on democratic rights aimed at stifling resistance against its anti-poor policies.

Therefore, ordinarily the theme for this year’s May Day in Nigeria, ‘Reclaiming the Civic Space in the Midst of Economic Hardship’, is apt. However, the problem is that the Labour leaders who formulated such a fitting theme have not demonstrated any serious resolve to reclaim the civic space with a view to organizing and mobilizing mass resistance against the policies that breed the economic hardship. In other words, the Tinubu government is having a field day with its attacks on the living standards and democratic rights of the working people and youth because the leadership of labour have refused to initiate a serious fight back.

Selling ‘Socialist Democracy’ at the Lagos May Day rally

In their May Day speeches, the national leaderships of both the NLC and TUC did not lack correct words to describe the current situation. The problem remains translating them into concrete action. For instance, the NLC President Joe Ajaero did not just lament the fact that many states and private sector employers have not implemented the new minimum wage, he strongly asserted that “the [minimum wage] law must be obeyed. We must begin a fresh push for not just compliance, but also for a comprehensive wage review to mitigate the hardship faced by Nigerian workers.” Good speech. But unfortunately, it may end up as another hot air unless workers and trade union activists mount a serious pressure on the labour leadership to walk the talk.

Selling ‘Socialist Democracy’ at the Osun May Day rally

However, while in Abuja at the national rally, the labour leaders spoke radically, even if it was braggadocio, in many states as usual it was shameless praise singing and pat on the back for the governors. For instance, in Osun, the state chair of the TUC sponsored a big banner campaigning for governor’s second term. In Ogun state, labour leaders commended the state governor for the prompt payment of pension for retirees. However, this is half-truth and misleading. The state owes over N50 billion unpaid gratuities and has not remitted over N40 billion contributory pension funds which have been already deducted from workers’ salaries. However, in Oyo while the labour leaders commended the state governor for approving N80,000 as the minimum wage, they also noted that the implementation had not been extended to workers in the judiciary sector and state-owned tertiary institutions.

In Lagos, the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives NANNM boycotted the May Day rally but instead held a separate event at the union’s Secretariat. This was in protest against the reduction in the salaries of health workers in the state. We are of the opinion this was not a correct method. They should have taken the protest to the main rally. Instructively, the state chair of the NLC Funmi Sessi, incidentally a nurse by profession, did not mention the plight of the nurses and midwives in her speech at the rally which had in attendance the state governor.

Some of the DSM comrades at the Lagos May Day rally

Members of the Democratic Socialist Movement participated actively at the international workers’ day rallies in Abuja, Oyo, Osun, Ogun and Lagos with the May/June 2025 edition of the Socialist Democracy (SD), our paper and different special leaflets which articulated what workers and trade unions should do in response to various capitalist attacks by the government at all levels. 416 copies of the SD were sold and about 8,000 copies of leaflets were circulated. Some rally participants wished to stay in contact with the DSM.

YRC Condemns Third Postponement of #ENDBADGOVERNANCE Protesters ‘Treason’ Trial

TREASON TRIAL OF 11 #ENDBADGOVERNANCE PROTESTERS: DROP ALL THE CHARGES NOW

WE CONDEMN THE CONTINUOUS DELAY OF THE TRIAL AND THE PERSISTENT ABSENCE OF THE JUDGE

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) strongly condemns the continuous delay of the trial of Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 other #Endbadgovernance protesters who were charged with treason by the Tinubu administration over their involvement in the #Endbadgovernance protest which erupted last year August. We also condemn the persistent absence of the trial Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja, each time the case has come up for hearing in the last five months. As a result, the accused activists are yet to have their day in court over six months after they were charged. This delay has caused the accused activists enormous psychological and material strain. We hereby call on the Federal Government to stop wasting the time of the activists over a sham trial. Instead of wasting their time and taxpayers’ money any further, we hereby demand immediate dismissal of the false charges and a public apology to the 11 #EndBadGovernance protesters.

After overcoming the hurdles of a stringent bail conditions, the activists looked forward to the date for trial which was first set for November 8, 2024. Shockingly, the Judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, who set the date was absent on the day the trial was supposed to commence. Consequently, a new date of January, 29, 2025 was set. The activists, who had no reason to be scared of the trumped-up charges against them, had showed up in court, however, again it was no-show for the judge. The absence of the judge meant that a new date had to be agreed on. Hence, March 26 was chosen as a new date for the commencement of trial. Again, the Judge was not in court on this new date! The best explanation we have gotten so far is that the judge is on vacation. The baffling question is how a judge would fix and agree to date of court sitting on three different occasions and be absent? And how many vacations does a Judge take within six months? As far as we are concerned, this is a deliberate attempt to stall the trial and ensure the threat of a death penalty continues to hang on the neck of these innocent Nigerians. We condemn this ‘hide and seek’ gimmick.

We seize this opportunity to call for the dropping of all charges against the 11 #Endbadgovernance protesters charged with treason, and all other #Endbangovernance protesters across the country. We strongly believe that the trial is a ploy by the government not only to criminalize peaceful protest, but to deter Nigerians from protesting against the hardship and misery caused by the pro-capitalist policies of the Tinubu administration. It is important to add that the government through the Attorney General, Lateef Fagbemi, had discharged and discontinued similar suit of treason against 119 protesters who were mostly minors after their arraignment in court on November 1, 2024. That arraignment was a gory sight, many of the children had been starved and detained for weeks at different detention centers, including at Abattoir, the notorious police detention centre in Abuja where the 11 Endbadgovernance were also kept for weeks.

We are surprised that the same reprieve has not been extended to Adaramoye Michael Lenin and other protesters still on trial despite the fact that the charges against all of them are broadly the same. We believe that the further entertainment of this matter will not only lead to a wastage of the precious time of the court but also help sustain a national and global embarrassment to the image of Nigeria. Solidarity protests have been held at Nigerian embassies or diplomatic offices in a number of countries in Europe and the US at every court day since last September. We are also aware that Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of British Labour Party, recently signed a petition to the Nigerian High Commissioner in the UK, calling for the withdrawal of charges against #Endbadgovenance protesters and an end to attacks on democratic rights of Nigerians by the government This is why we would like to urge the Attorney General of the Federation to use his power to ensure that the time of the court is not further wasted on what is clearly a frivolous and malicious prosecution.

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary

Youth Rights Campaign

Email: youth_rights@yahoo.com

Tinubu Tax Reforms Will Compound The Economic Crisis

The CDWR holds public symposium and calls on workers to organize actions to reject the bills and fight for a political alternative.

By Davy Fidel

On Tuesday 11 March 2025, the Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR) organized a public symposium to discuss the implications of President Bola Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bills currently before the National Assembly for working people and the poor. The theme of the symposium is: “Tinubu Tax Reform: Any Benefit for Working People and the Poor?’’

One of the objectives of the symposium is to use the gathering to call on workers in the trade unions to mount pressure on their leadership to mobilize for actions against the bills and other anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies.

In attendance, both physically and virtually, were about 60 people from trade unions and civil society organisations. These include the representatives of the Lagos councils of the two labour centres, Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. Some individual industrial unions – affiliated to either the NLC or TUC – were also represented. They included Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (ASBIFIE), Cab Operators Union, Lagos State Council of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Lagos State Council of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Precision Electrical and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association (PERESSA), National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) and Lagos State Welders Association. The left and civil society organisations in attendance were Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Centre for Popular Education (CEPED), MEKUNU-KOYA, Joint Action Front (JAF), ACTIVISTA, Movement for African Emancipation (MAE) and Socialist Vanguard Tendency (SVT).

The speakers at the event were Lanre Akinola, a chartered account and NEC member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and Dr Dele Ashiru, National Convenor, ASUU Committee on Students and Civil Society Organizations. Other speakers were Abiodun Aladetan, Lagos State Secretary, Trade Union Congress and Bisi Idowu Vice Chair, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Lagos State Council.

Rufus Olusesan, National President of PERESSA and also the national chair of the CDWR, moderated the symposium. He introduced the theme and highlighted the ills behind the tax reforms and why workers must begin to unite themselves via the trade unions so they can challenge the bills. In his introduction, he said. “’this public symposium is to discuss the bill and how workers can engage it before it becomes a law.”

He added that the cost of living and inflation has devalued the new minimum wage of N70, 000 the Tinubu presidency is boasting they have enacted to ease the suffering of workers. Stressing the consequences of the tax reform bills, Rufus also emphasized that workers must not trust the government or fall behind the propaganda that workers under the N70, 000 will be exempted. He said, “It will be a self-harm for any worker to agree with such propaganda.”

He further stressed the fact that this government of Tinubu does not serve the interest of workers and the poor working people. Rather, the ruling elites defending the neo-liberal policies of the IMF and World Bank only understand how they will continue to use them to stiffen the life of the oppressed Nigerians.

Lanre Akinola, a tax expert, who was the lead speaker elaborated the issues around the tax reform bills, and why the reform doesn’t serve the interest of the working people and why workers must protest against it.

He used the example of the privatization of the power sector, which has proved to be a monumental failure and fraud contrary to what the government made the ordinary people to believe before it was carried out, as a reminder to the working people not fall for lies and deceit of the government that the tax reform will benefit ordinary workers and the poor. He explained that why it is true that in the bill anybody earning N800,000 and below is exempt, they will be made to pay much more through VAT and other anti-poor policies like increment in school fees in addition to the existing impacts of the devaluation of the Naira and removal of the fuel subsidy. Besides, he further explained, a few workers in the public sector would really benefit from tax relief put in the bills.

Lanre Akinola, a chartered accountant and member of DSM NEC

In the course of his speech, Lanre also explained the damage that tax reform will do to public education, health, social services, and all other aspects of life for the working people in Nigeria. For instance, he said that if the bills become laws school fees in public tertiary universities will be so astronomical and children from working class homes won’t be able to access public university education. This is because one of the plans of the bill is to scrap Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) which largely accounts for the provision of infrastructures and facilities in the tertiary institutions. In his words, “If TETFund began to withdraw their funds from public tertiary institutions, it will mean school fees may triple and many students will drop out of the university because their parents won’t be able to pay their school fees.”

He further explained how the government of Tinubu plans to use VAT to further compound the suffering of working people and the poor, struggling to cope with the current social economic hardship. He warned that workers shouldn’t dance behind any section of the capitalist ruling elite, playing up ethnic and regional card over the sharing formula. Rather, they should unite in their strength to oppose the bill and fight for improved living conditions.

On his part, Abiodun Aladetan – the State Secretary, TUC Lagos –shared his personal ordeal of the electricity tariff and the exorbitant bill of N35 million, the estate he resides received. He was firm in his words when he said “the privatization of the power sector has failed and it is not working.” On the tax reform bill, he stated that the position of the TUC includes the rejection of the planned hike in VAT and demand for an increase in the tax minimum threshold from N800,000 to N2.5m. He added that state leadership is making an effort to educate workers about the danger inherent in the tax bills. However, just like the NLC, whose representative also spoke, there is no a program of action by the TUC to defeat the bills or enforce their own demands.

Dr. Dele Ashiru started by going on historical lane, stating that the current attacks of the Tinubu government on workers and the poor is a continuation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) that was introduced by the military dictator Ibrahim Babangida in mid-1980’s in line with the dictates of the IMF and World Bank. On TETFund, he recalled how the struggle of ASUU over university funding led to the establishment of the Fund. According to him, while ASUU has some questions over the democratic management and accountability of the Fund, it is vehemently opposed to its scrapping. He added that the tax reform in general is a summary of the government shifting the burden over to the working people and relieving the super-rich from paying fair taxes. The state, he said, has failed to uphold its responsibility and it is hiding under a fraudulent saying that the state doesn’t have business in business. To him, “free quality education is possible and it is the state that must fund it.’’

A new pamphlet produced by the CDWR and titled “Tinubu’s Tax Reform Will Compound Economic Crises”’, was presented at the symposium by Chinedu Bosah, Publicity Secretary of the CDWR and a leading member of the DSM. He spoke briefly on the bill and why workers in the trade unions must not be quiet. He argued that the tax reform bill can be used to steer a national campaign and mobilise for mass actions against the government and its anti-poor policies. However, the trade unions must be willing to be active in the campaign and drive the campaign in conjunction with civil society groups.

Copies of the pamphlet were shared to the unions and civil society organisations in attendance, and an open appeal was made to the unions for donation towards producing more copies for wider circulation among workers and other subsequent material necessary for a struggle against the tax reform. The pamphlet will be updated with new details after the bills are passed into law.

The contributors to the discussion from the audience were all critical of the lack of seriousness on the part of the national leadership of both the NLC and TUC. Therefore, they urged the labour leaders to begin mass mobilization of the working people and work with the civil society to build national actions in order to defeat the anti-poor provisions of the bills before they become laws.

A worker making a contribution at the symposium

It was also stressed that the struggle against the tax reform must be linked with the struggle against the entire anti-poor capitalist policies and the need for a mass working political alternative with a socialist program.

The pamphlet states in part, ‘”Under capitalism, the rule of engagement is to subject the working class and the poor masses into exploitative slavery. It is the organization of the working classes such as the trade unions that should resist exploitation and organize to eventually defeat capitalism.”

Solidarity songs were chanted to bring the symposium that lasted for over 4 hours to an end. But before then the DSM comrades had sold 26 copies of Socialist Democracy – the paper of the organization.

CDWR email: campaignworkers@yahoo.co.uk

#EndBadGovernance Protesters – Local and International Protests Call for End of Sham Trial and Dropping of Charges

Protest actions were held again in Nigeria and the UK on Wednesday January 29 in continuation of local and international campaigns over the unjust detention and trial of #EndBadGovernance protesters as well as increasing attacks on democratic rights in Nigeria. The campaign had earlier forced the government, through the courts, to release many detainees, including minors, though in most cases on bail with stringent conditions while some others had the charges against them dropped.

It should be recalled that mass protests were held across Nigeria last year over mass hunger and economic hardship compounded by the anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies of the Bola Tinubu government. Fearful that these #EndBadGovernance protests could get a big response the government decided to firmly clamp down on the protests. Tinubu is very aware that less than 9 million voted for him in 2019 in a country of over 230 million.

Protesting outside the Abuja courthouse on January 29

However, it is not yet a total freedom for all those who have been released. For instance, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others, who regained freedom on bail after languishing for about two months in the police and prison custodies, are facing trumped-up charges including treason, which carries a death penalty, at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Hence, the chief demand of the campaign at present is for the government to end the sham trial by withdrawing the trumped-up charges. On Tuesday, January 28, the Kano State government dropped similar charges against protesters being tried at the State High Court. The campaigners demand that the Federal Government, which prosecutes Michael Lenin and 10 others, and other state governments also follow suit .

Kano state is governed by an opposition party, the NNPP. It is possible that it withdrew the charges in order to appear to the working masses as being different from the APC/Tinubu led Federal Government. For the Tinubu government, the trial is being used as a deterrent to any form of serious opposition against its anti-poor neo-liberal policies. Therefore, the campaign has to be sustained and strident to force the government to withdraw the charges.

Therefore, it was good and correct that the campaigners went ahead with the solidarity protest despite having been aware a day earlier that the trial would not be held again on January 29 as scheduled. That was the second time the commencement of the trial had been postponed – the first being November 8. The new date is March 26.

January 29 ‘Treason’ trial protest outside the Nigerian High Commission in London

In Abuja, civil society activists held a protest at the Federal High Court Abuja where Michael and others stand trial. Members of Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales) and Nigeria Solidarity UK were at the Nigerian High Commission in London for a solidarity protest. Also, many branches of the Socialist Party in England and Wales also held different solidarity actions as did comrades of the Socialist Party Scotland (CWI Scotland). Earlier, on Monday January 27, Youth Rights Campaign – a campaign group of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) – held a press conference and protest in Lagos.

In all the protest actions, in addition to calling for dropping of charges against activists on trial and release of all those still in detention, the demands also include an end to increasing attack on democratic rights and the reversal of the anti-poor policies which have caused a serious fall in the living standards for the vast majority.

End the #EndBadGovernance ‘Treason’ Trial and Drop All Charges

End the attacks on democratic rights!

We support Amnesty International’s report titled “bloody August” indicting the Police and other security agencies of a crackdown on peaceful protesters
End the 6-year long trial and drop all charges against Abbey Trotsky who is being tried for defending workers’ rights in Ibadan, Nigeria
Prosecute police officers, army and other security officers culpable of violence against peaceful protesters in Nigeria
We call for the reversal of all the neoliberal anti-poor policies of President Tinubu’s regime since its inception and a withdrawal of the recent tax reform bill
We call on NLC & TUC leadership to begin mobilisation for a 48 hour general strike to reverse all the anti-poor policies, demand implementation of the 2024 minimum wage across all States and with an increase in line with inflation
We demand public ownership of the key sectors of the economy of the economy under the democratic control of workers, youth and the poor to ensure Nigeria’s resources are utilised for the needs of the vast majority and not the profits and looting of a few

The ‘treason’ trial of Michael Lenin and ten other #EndBadGovernance protesters is scheduled to commence on 29 January after its postponement last year. Adaramoye Michael Lenin and ten others will be arraigned in Court on trumped up charges of treason and terrorism financing which could potentially earn them a death penalty if not quashed.

Recall that in the early hours of 5 August, 2024, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and a few others in Abuja were abducted and remanded in detention. It took a serious local and international campaign by socialists, activists and trade unions before they were granted bail after almost two months in detention. The campaign to demand the dropping of charges and an end to the trial and victimisation must now be intensified. We call on you all – particularly diasporans, socialist groups and trade union activists – to join this campaign to demand an end to attack on democratic rights of working people in Nigeria.

The material conditions that gave rise to the #EndBadGovernance protests last year are still very much there and have even worsened with starvation staring in the face of an escalating cost of living crisis. The horrific deaths of about 65 people, including 35 children, in Christmas palliatives stampedes last year is a huge testament to the height of hunger and desperation to survive in Nigeria. This clearly aligns with recent reports that 33 million Nigerians, including 16 million children, would be faced with acute hunger by mid-2025.

There is no other cause for the mass hunger other than the imposed neoliberal policies of the past and previous governments on the mass of working people. The current government has doubled down the attacks by fully deregulating the downstream oil sector, devaluing the currency, amongst others, and now plans to introduce a tax reform where big businesses and the super-rich are taxed less and working class and poor people are taxed to the bone. While the regime argues for increased revenue generation through the tax reform bill, it is clearly an attempt to generate more revenue for the self-serving backward ruling elites to suit their lavish lifestyle at the detriment of an already impoverished, starving people.

These attacks are occurring against a backdrop of a meagre minimum wage of N70,000 set in 2024, that has yet to be fully implemented across all States and which now needs to be increased. With inflation running at over 30% it is not enough. The trade union leadership, particularly NLC and TUC, must be prepared to mobilise for serious struggle to force the implementation of the minimum wage while also putting forward demands for reversal of all the anti-poor policies of deregulation, privatisation, education fee hikes, currency devaluation, etc.

There is also need for the trade union leadership, socialist groups and activists to take on the Nigerian government against repression of workers, activists and socialists.

For instance, asides the attacks on the #EndBadGovernance protesters, Abbey Trotsky, who is a coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights in Oyo State, has continued to face state prosecution for the past six years. He has suffered a series of harassments including arrest and detention over this period. He has been arrested not less than eight times and is facing a trial on trumped up criminal charges for the role he played extending solidarity to thousands of casual workers of SUMAL FOOD LIMITED who went on strike, protesting against poor pay and slave working conditions.

We demand an end to the state prosecution of Abbey Trotsky and an end to casualisation of labour as well as other indecent labour practices.

Join us in building the solidarity support against an attempt to continue to enslave the vast majority of Nigerians despite the huge natural and human resources possessed by the country which if placed under collective ownership and democratic control and management of the working people can guarantee decent living standards for all. That is why we need to fight to end the rule of the rich few elites by organising for a democratically-run mass workers’ party armed with a socialist programme that can represent the working people, youth and poor in Nigeria and put an end to misery amidst plenty.

A leaflet issued by ‘Nigeria Solidarity UK‘

Tinubu’s Approval of $20,000 Foreign Medical Treatment, Bullet-Proof SUVs and Other Perks for Top Generals Is An Insult To Nigerian Workers and Masses

CDWR Demands Reversal of All Extravagant Packages for the Tops of the Military, Judges and Top Political Office Holders

It is a disservice to the toiling Nigerian workers and masses for President Tinubu to approve jumbo salaries, allowances and outrageous perks for serving and retiring generals and top military officers while subjecting those who labour to create the wealth of the country to poverty wage and pension. This approval was done through the Harmonised Terms and Conditions of Service for Officers and Enlisted Personnel in the Nigerian Armed Forces wherein the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs and top military generals are entitled to $20,000 (about N32,000.000) local/international medical treatment annually, bullet-proof SUVs and other perks.

The $20,000 medical tourism abroad, similar to the benefits accruable to top political office holders (past governors and presidents), is one of the reasons our medical services and healthcare in Nigeria is largely neglected, poorly funded and backward. At a period when Nigerian doctors, nurses and other professionals are relocating abroad in droves largely because of poor remunerations and funding of public healthcare in the country, this approval of medical tourism for top generals is an ill-advised policy that will further deepen the rot in Nigeria’s healthcare system. Instead of promoting medical tourism, a serious government would prioritize adequate funding of public healthcare, improvement in the pay and conditions of healthcare professionals and the provision of medical insurance in order to ensure that all Nigerian citizens including political office holders patronize the public healthcare system.

Similarly, jumbo allowances and perks were approved for judges last year (August 2024) by President Tinubu that jerk up the salaries and allowances by 300%. Before the astronomical increase of their salaries and allowances, judges already earned jumbo emoluments. In the same vein, top political office holders like president, governors, legislators, ministers, etc award to themselves outrageous salaries and allowances aside from several other ‘legalized looting’.

That the same government and President Tinubu who finds it impossible to pay Nigerian workers living wage but conveniently approves all manners of jumbo salaries, allowances and perks for top political office holders, judges and military top brass speaks volume. Workers create wealth but the ruling capitalist politicians decide the allocation and in the process condemn workers to penury and misery. The N70, 000 minimum wage approved for workers cannot feed an average family and meet their other needs considering the high cost of living.

The capitalist government is paying and pampering military officers, judges and political office holders to enable it use them to hold down the working people and ensure the seamless exploitation of the working class.

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) demands an end to this unfair and class-apartheid emolument system. The CDWR demands increment of workers’ wages/salaries to living wage and to be increased in line with inflationary rate. We also demand the abrogation of jumbo/outrageous salaries and allowances of political office holders, judges, top military officers and its reduction to the average wage and allowances of skilled workers.

Rufus Olusesan

National Chairperson

Chinedu Bosah

National Publicity Secretary

CDWR email: campaignworkers@yahoo.co.uk

From “Renewed Hope” to “Renewed Hopelessness”

By H.T. Soweto

Tinubu’s Capitalist Policies Have Failed! Time for a Socialist Alternative! At a recent high-level meeting in Nigeria’s capital Abuja in May this year, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Richard Montgomery, said the following “I’d like to use this opportunity to express the whole lot of support of my government to the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu. We commend his agenda for its focus on priorities and delivery. We acknowledge that you have done a lot to put in place transparency and accountability”. (Press from the Office of the Vice President Kashim Shettima 17 May 2024). Similarly, in November, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, also commended “Nigeria’s decisive actions to reform the economy, accelerate growth and generate jobs for its vibrant population. The IMF strongly supports Nigeria on this journey.” (Punch Newspaper, 22 November 2024).

No doubt, millions of Nigerians must be wondering whether these high priests of global capitalism are talking about the same country as the one they live in when they commend Tinubu’s policies in such glowing tones. This is because over the past 16 months, their experience of the Tinubu government and its economic reforms is nothing but hopelessness and mass misery.

AN ECONOMIC CATASTROPHE

While on the campaign trail in 2023, Tinubu promised to reform the economy in order to usher in growth and development in all areas of life including agriculture, infrastructure, public education and health care and job provision. His vision for Nigeria was captured in a blueprint titled “Renewed Hope Agenda” wherein he pledged to build “a Nigeria, especially for our youth, where sufficient jobs with decent wages create a better life” and one where “no parent is compelled to send a child to bed hungry, worried whether tomorrow shall bring food. He also pledged to “make basic healthcare, education, and housing accessible and affordable for all”, and to “generate, transmit and distribute sufficient, affordable electricity to give our people the requisite power to enlighten their lives, their homes, and their very dreams”.

Nearly two years after, none of these promises has been kept. Instead, Tinubu has succeeded in plunging the entire country into a new depth of hopelessness and mass misery. Between May 29, 2023 and now, the price of petrol has increased by about 355 percent thereby detonating an inflationary rise in the prices of all commodities. The result is what has been variously described as the worst cost of living crisis in a generation! Even though GDP growth has recently improved to 3.46% year-on-year in Q3 2024, the cost of living crisis persists. In fact, so bad is the situation that millions are starving as food prices have rocketed by 61 percent over the past one year. According to a United Nations estimate, nothing less than 35 million more Nigerians are at risk of acute starvation next year.

As we have previously observed, the key to the unfolding economic catastrophe in Nigeria was the decision of President Tinubu to implement IMF/World Bank prescribed economic reforms principally the abolition of petrol subsidy and the devaluation of the country’s currency. These reforms were carried out despite their attendant negative consequences for the productive capacity of the country and in expectation of promises of more usurious loans despite Nigeria’s already huge debt profile. In the last one year alone, nothing less than 11 multinational companies have exited Nigeria. The list includes Pfizer, PZ Cussons, GSK, Jumia Food, Bolt Food, Procter & Gamble etc. Gone with them are hundreds of jobs in an economy where unemployment is at over 40 percent – although the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) claims a lower figure of 5.3 percent by saying that anyone who works an hour a week is not unemployed! The exit of the companies is reportedly due to the impact of the increase in fuel price and devaluation of the Naira on business operations. Of course, this cannot entirely be true since manufacturers already passed the impact of the policies to consumers by raising prices yet it gives an insight into the confounding economic catastrophe the neoliberal reforms have created.

Aside operational costs, consumer spending capacity has declined seriously due to inflation and effect of naira devaluation on income. The recent increase in the national minimum wage from N30, 000 to N70, 000, though yet to be paid across the country, is unable to raise the living standards of the working class. This is because in real terms, the N70, 000 minimum wage is lower in value than the worth of N30, 000 minimum wage five years ago when it was first signed into law. Five years ago when the old minimum wage was signed into law, N30, 000 was worth $83 in dollar terms, now the new minimum wage of N70, 000 is worth only $42 in dollar terms today. In addition, over 80 percent of Nigeria’s workforce are employed in the unregulated informal sector where the minimum wage law is hardly respected by employers of labour. This therefore means that even if the new wage is fully paid by both the Federal and state governments, only a fraction of the workforce would benefit leaving millions of Nigerians still struggling to survive on poor wages amidst a rampaging inflation.

LABOUR’S WEAK RESPONSE

Sadly, the leadership of the labour movement have been unable to mount the kind of resistance that the situation demands. Instead, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have spent the last one and a half years pussyfooting despite the neoliberal offensive against the working class. Occasionally, the labour leadership issues bold and radical press statements to respond to the economic policies of the government but except for appeals and threats, the labour movement is yet to put forward a clear strategy to resist the onslaught. Indeed, given the obvious contradiction between radical words and inaction, the labour leaderships seem to have drawn the conclusion that it is often better to be silent.

But even the fewer press statements have become weak politically in terms of the position of the movement on the key neoliberal economic policies of government. So for instance, labour has abandoned the movement’s traditional rejection of fuel subsidy removal and call for reversal of any increase in the pump price of fuel. This ideological and political retreat has had a demoralizing effect on the union members and also the general movement as a whole, by adding to the mood of despair or feeling that nothing can be done.

But if the labour bureaucrats thought ‘bending the knee’ to the capitalist status quo would be of any benefit, the law of unintended consequences appears to have answered their illusion. At the end, the labour bureaucrats only succeeded in weakening their own position and this was made manifest in the way and manner the regime, emboldened by the retreat, recently harassed and arrested the NLC president, Joe Ajaero. The development was a lesson in how class collaborationism or social dialogue is a danger to the labour movement. Unfortunately, the leadership of the NLC and TUC do not seem to have fully learnt the lesson leaving the rank and file activists and Socialists the responsibility of campaigning to rebuild the trade union movement and refashion it as a platform of struggle.

FOR A 48 HOUR GENERAL STRIKE AND MASS PROTEST

Part of that would include campaigning within the labour movement for a properly prepared 48-hour general and mass protest to breathe new life into the mass resistance against the regimes’ anti-poor policies. Since early this year, a mass movement against the neo-liberal economic policies slowly built – its peak being the #Endbadgovernance protest that erupted for ten days in August. Instead of answers to the demands, protesters were met with water cannons and live bullets by the police and the army. Also, hundreds of protesters were arrested and detained including member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Adaramoye Michael Lenin, who, with others, is now standing trial for treason at the moment.

A new report by Amnesty International titled ‘Bloody August: Nigerian Government’s Violent Crackdown on #Endbadgovernance protests’ has exposed the chilling details of the bloody repression which left at least 24 dead. “In almost all cases the victims were shot by the police – firing live ammunition at close range, often at the head or torso, suggesting that they were shooting to kill. Of the survivors interviewed, two protesters suffered gunshot injuries after being shot in the arm and leg by the police. Several survivors were suffocated by indiscriminate use of tear gas” Amnesty International said in the report.

Due to the scale of the repression which continues even up till now, plus labour’s inaction, the mass movement has slowly stalled but the overall situation continues to worsen. In fact, between August and now, petrol prices have gone up at least twice! Now as the year ends, many working families are bracing for one of the worst yuletide in Nigeria’s recent history due to the economic situation. In this situation, a call for a two-day general strike and mass protest especially starting early next year can help to reignite the mass movement against the regime’s neo-liberal offensive.

However, even in the likely situation that the NLC and TUC leadership fail to call a general strike, there is still a need for activists to begin to discuss how to prepare for the next stage of the struggle. For us in the DSM, we think that there should be plan for new nationwide actions starting from February next year. To make this achievable, groups and organizations like the Joint Action Front (JAF), Take it Back (TIB), #Endbadgovernance Movement, ASCAB, TPAPM, Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM) and others need to discuss to draw up a common plan and programme.

A POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE NOW AND FOR 2027

Linked to this is the need for a mass workers and poor people’s political alternative to fight for political power. One indubitable fact that has been proven in the last 24 years of civil rule is that unless the working class seize political power and begin to run Nigeria on Socialist basis, none of the fundamental economic and political contradictions facing Nigeria can be resolved.

Unfortunately, the Labour Party (LP) registered by the trade unions has not been able to play the role of such a political alternative despite the significant support its Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, got in the 2023 general elections. Peter Obi is a supporter of capitalism – the same social and economic system and programme that is behind the crisis plaguing Nigeria. Many of Obi’s young supporters are genuinely interested in changing Nigeria. Many of them are playing important roles in the struggle to challenge the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu regime and especially the #Endbadgovernance movement which erupted in August. As the class struggle unfolds, the best of them are bound to draw the conclusion soon that what is needed is a democratically run political party and candidates that stand fully opposed to capitalism.

But what would in particular hasten this radicalization in mass consciousness is the building of a mass party of the working class, youth and poor masses on Socialist programme. Such a party involved in the day-to-day struggle of the working masses and radical youth, unlike the Labour Party (LP) which distances itself, will demonstrate very clearly what kind of party is needed to liberate Nigeria. While we of the DSM are committed to the ongoing effort at seeing the possibility of reclaiming and repositioning the LP as a genuine working people party, we strongly hold that left activists should at the same time look outside the LP for an alternative.

The African Action Congress (AAC) led by its Presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, has demonstrated clear consistency by remaining steadfast at the polls and in class struggle over the past few years. Although not yet a fully-rounded Socialist party although some socialists work within it, the AAC working with other left groups including the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), the PRP Vanguard, NPFM, remnants of the National Conscience Party (NCP), ASCAB, TPAPM, the Movement of the People (MOP) and left activists working in the LP, can become the rallying point or nucleus on the road to building such a mass political alternative. But to do this require that the left is able to overcome the inertia and division that keeps it apart by working out a common programme for joint work and intervention. Obviously, we may not agree on everything but a joint action programme would be a basis for the start of activity.

Only this kind of political preparation can place the Nigerian working class, youth and poor masses at a vantage position to seize any opportunities that may present itself to change the fortune of this country for the better by fighting for immediate improvements and building a movement that is capable of taking political power and enthroning a workers and poor people’s government that will carry out Socialist programmes.

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MINIMUM WAGE: Workers and Labour Leaders Need to Fight for Full Implementation and Resist Anti-poor Policies

#EndBadGovernance Global Solidarity Protest Call for Dropping of Charges against Protesters and End to Sham Trials

Friday November 8 saw the #EndBadGovernance Movement, Lagos State Press Statement, hold a protest march in solidarity with those on criminal trial and in detention in connection with the nationwide protest held between August 1 and August 8 over mass hunger and economic hardship. Nearly 100 protesters, including members of the Movement, Womanifesto – a coalition of women groups, CEEHOPE and community and civil society activists and lawyers, participated in the action which was ended with the submission of a petition to Chief Justice of Nigeria through the Chief Judge of Lagos State.

The protest march demanded the immediate withdrawal of trumped-up charges levelled against Adaramoye Michael Lenin and others on trial nationwide and immediate release of #EndBadGovernance protesters still held in detention.

Hundreds of protesters, including minors, were arrested during the August protests across the country following a fierce clampdown by the Bola Tinubu government which also recorded about 40 deaths. For instance, Michael Lenin, National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) and a member of Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), was arrested in Abuja in the wee hours of August 5, along with Mosiu Sodeeq, on the order of Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Bola Tinubu. He was locked up for 59 days.

Recently, global outrage that followed the November 1 arraignment of minors forced the Tinubu government to withdraw charges against 119 detainees, including 32 children, who had spent close to 100 days in unlawful detention.

However, apart from these 119 detainees, there are still, across the country, hundreds in detention or on trial on trumped-up charges, including treason which carries death penalty, for merely protesting against hunger and hardship caused by the anti-poor capitalist policies of Tinubu government. Therefore, though Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others are currently out of prison, having met stringent bail conditions, they still face a charge of treason, something which means that it is not yet a total freedom for them. Also, a few days after the withdrawal of charges against minors in Abuja, 19 protesters including three minors, were put on trial in Borno State and returned to prison custody. The Borno minors were unlucky as their arraignment did not enjoy a spotlight of social media, unlike their Abuja counterpart.

*One of the protest organisers, H. T. Soweto from the DSM, speaking to the crowd.*

The solidarity action was scheduled for November 8 to coincide with the commencement of trial of Michael and 10 others at Federal High Court Abuja. A similar action was held today at the Nigerian High Commission in London, UK, the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin, Germany, and in a few other countries. However, the court did no longer sit as scheduled as the trial judge is on vacation.

November 8 solidary protest outside the Nigerian High Commission in London

*and outside the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin*

At any rate, the campaign for dropping of the charges and an end to the sham trial must be sustained. The fact that Michael Lenin and 10 others face similar charges as the 119 defendants whose matter has been discharged does not mean the former will enjoy the same reprieve. The Tinubu government wants to hang on their neck the frivolous charge of treason despite not having any proof in an attempt to make it as a deterrent to resistance and protest against its anti-poor capitalist policies.

By and large, the demands of the protest march which are also contained in the petition include:

Withdrawal of charges and discontinuation of case against Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Angel Love Innocent, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Eleojo Simon, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu.
Withdrawal of charges against the 19 defendants, including minors, charged before Justice Aisha Mohammed Ali at State High Court 10 in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Release of all peaceful protesters still in detention nationwide.
A public apology by the Federal Government to all protesters arrested, detained and subjected to such malicious trial.
An adequate compensation to all protesters arrested and detained.
Immediate psycho-social evaluation and support for the 32 child-protesters whose detention and trial were carried out in crude violation of the Child Rights Acts and international conventions protecting the right of Children.
The immediate sack of the Inspector General of Police and sanction for all government and security officials involved in violating the rights of peaceful protesters including minors through illegal arrest, torture while in detention as well as malicious prosecution on trumped up charges.

Other demands include reversal of anti-poor capitalist policies and an end to attacks on democratic rights.

YRC condemns Tinubu regime for placing children on trial over August 1-10 protest

Demands their unconditional release and the dropping of charges against all protestors

On Friday, 1st November 2024, the Nigerian government arraigned 76 protesters, including 32 minors aged between 14 and 17, for ‘terrorism and treason’ at a Federal High Court in Abuja and January 24, 2025 was set as the start date for their trial. The protesters who were arrested from the Northern parts of the country during the #Endbadgovernance protest that rocked Nigeria from 1st to 10 August 2024 had spent 93 days in police detention due to a court order. These 76 were the first batch of detainees to be charged as later on Friday a further 43 people were arraigned on similar charges in the same court.

The children in the first group were looking dishevelled, sick and visibly malnourished as they huddled together in the dock – a visible sign of their poor treatment and possibly torture while in detention. At least 4 of them, one aged 14 and including an adult, slumped while waiting to take their pleas; with one on the ground writhing in pain thereby the judge had to pause proceedings briefly.

We of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) condemn the Tinubu government for this inhumane treatment of the children and other detainees. We recognize that the judge discharged the 4 defendants that slumped from the proceedings until they medically fit, while the rest were granted bail but each with the now usual stringent conditions such as surety of N10 million. However, as far as we are concerned, even this is not enough because all it means is that they all will continue to stand trial over outrageously false charges of terrorism and treason.

We hereby demand that all charges against the children and other detainees be dropped completely and they should be reunited with their families immediately. Children should be in school, not in court. Putting them on trial purportedly for plotting to topple a government is nothing but a moral outrage. It shows that the Tinubu government has clearly lost any modicum of reason. Rather it has now becoming a rampaging civilian capitalist dictatorship bereft of all decency and one, fearing the population, seeks to rule by intimidation.

Meanwhile, Friday’s arraignment marks an escalation in President Tinubu’s assault on the right to protest and asphyxiation of all democratic rights and freedoms. Just two weeks ago, 22 protesters were arrested, and then beaten ruthlessly, by the police at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos state, for attempting to commemorate the EndSARS massacre four years ago.

Next week, Friday 8 November 2024, the trial of another group of 11 protesters, Adaramoye Michael Lenin (YRC national coordinator) and 10 others, for treason is scheduled to commence at the Federal High Court, also in Abuja. They are being tried for treason because they participated in a peaceful protest in August against hunger and hardship.

We of the YRC hereby demand that charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin and all protesters standing trial be dropped immediately. We also demand a halt to all attacks on democratic rights. Protest is not treason. We affirm the right of the Nigerian people and youth to continue to organize to resist the anti-poor capitalist policies of the Tinubu regime which has plunged society into unimaginable hunger and misery.

Francis Nwapa

YRC National Secretary.

Email: yrccampaigns@gmail.com

Activists arrested and brutalised for marking fourth anniversary of Lekki killings

https://twitter.com/HTSoweto/status/1847936013747802475

Today, in the early afternoon, twenty two EndBadGovernance protesters arrested for marking the murder of EndSARS protesters were released by the police.
The #EndSARS struggle of October 2020 is a watershed in the history of Nigeria. The Nigeria ruling elites were shocked by the massive protest of young people across the country to demand an end to a rogue unit of the Nigeria Police Force called SARS. Despite state sponsoring of thugs to attack protesters and shooting of protesters by the police in various locations, for two weeks young people demonstrated resilience and unity of purpose.
Below, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, Organising Committee, #Endbadgovernance Movement, Lagos State and National Spokesperson of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), had this message when he and the others were released earlier today:

“We have just been released after the Commissioner of Police came down to the Panti police station pleading hypocritically. The whole brutalisation, assault and arrest happened in his presence.

He ordered it.

Obviously the last has not been heard of this. Many of us are injured. One comrade had blood gushing from his nose. Two comrades, a male and female, were sexually molested. A male comrade was stripped naked – we had to find a rope to hold his trousers to preserve his dignity.

Many are still in shock.

I had my cloth torn by Officer Nnadi James at Panti police station. This violation of our rights and brutalisation on a day set aside to commemorate a brutal massacre four years ago cannot be tolerated.

We want justice. We won’t stop until we have it.

As for the struggle against Tinubu’s anti-poor policies, this assault won’t dissuade us. The struggle continues until victory.”

https://twitter.com/NewsCentralTV/status/1848270043076845679