Uncategorized – Nigeria Solidarity

NUPENG AND PENGASSAN vs Dangote Face-off : Workers Have Right to a Trade Union and Decent Work

NLC and TUC Must Launch a Serious National Campaign Against Casualisation and Other Indecent Labour Practices

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) strongly condemns the vicious campaign aimed at criminalising the right of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to organise workers at the Dangote Refinery. This offensive by Dangote Group and its apologists is a deliberate attempt to entrench a slave-like workplace regime where exploitation thrives unchecked, something which has become a permanent feature of Dangote companies, all in the relentless pursuit of private profit.

We reject any impression that the right to unionise should apply only to public sector workers. This is a blatant distortion designed to weaken the collective power of the working class. Across Nigeria, many private sector organisations already recognise workers’ right to union membership. Indeed, many industrial unions have members only from the private sector. Unionisation in private enterprises is not a privilege but a fundamental, internationally recognised right that applies to all workers, irrespective of sector.

We also denounce the poisonous argument that seeks to compare the unionisation struggle at Dangote Refinery with that of university lecturers in private institutions. This cynical comparison aims to confuse the working class and diminish the legitimacy of trade unions in private industries. Likewise, the suggestion that PENGASSAN and NUPENG should “build its own refinery” rather than organise Dangote’s workers is diversionary and mischievous. Trade unions do not exist fundamentally to own or run capitalist industries, their mandate is to defend and advance the collective interests of workers which include, fight for decent wages, safe working conditions, and protection against exploitation.

Equally baseless is a claim that NUPENG and PENGASSAN are responsible for the collapse of Nigeria’s public refineries. The real culprits are the successive capitalist governments and their private collaborators who have looted public resources, mismanaged national assets, and destroyed public enterprises through corruption and negligence. It was through deliberate sabotage, including fraudulent turnaround maintenance projects, which public refineries were run down to justify the rise of private monopolies like Dangote Refinery. The refinery itself was established through massive state support—public subsidies, tax waivers, and concessions—ultimately serving private accumulation rather than public welfare.

The fact that the outrageous price of petrol hasn’t returned to the pre-May 29 level is an indication that the refinery was established not to guarantee an affordable fuel for mass of the working people. It is rather a monument for a profit maximisation and capitalist greed. The SPN condemns the unjust sack of 800 workers by the Dangote Refinery management and demands their immediate reinstatement with full rights to freely join NUPENG, PENGASSAN, or any trade union of their choice. We stand in full solidarity with NUPENG and PENGASSAN in their just struggle to unionise workers at the refinery.

The SPN views the concession by Dangote Refinery to reabsorb the sacked workers into Dangote Group following the strike action by PENGASSAN as an important, though partial, victory for the workers’ movement. It demonstrates that determined and organised resistance can compel even the most powerful capitalist interests to yield. However, the planned redeployment of the workers to other Dangote subsidiaries could deprive them of union membership PENGASSAN or frustrate them in workplaces unrelated to their expertise and industrial orientation. For this reason, SPN insists that this concession must not be misconstrued as a final victory but as a step in a holistic struggle against the anti-labour practices in the entire Dangote Group. Unfortunately, it appears the leaderships of PENGASSAN as well as the NLC and TUC have accepted the fate of the affected workers as eventually determined by Dangote.

This is quite unfortunate as we strongly believe that a total defeat of Dangote’s anti-labour posture would have been possible, if only the broader labour movement, led by the NLC and TUC, had thrown its full weight behind the fight with a 24-hour nationwide strike, backed by mass street protests. However, the fact that Dangote Group actually enjoyed sympathy from a section of the populace in its faceoff with PENGASSAN and NUPENG is a serious indictment on the leadership of the trade union movement in Nigeria. It is a warning to Labour that the ruling class may seek to exploit the understandable frustration of casual and unemployed workers in a struggle to further weaken the trade unions by arguing that union leaders are “privileged” at the expense of poorer workers.

This is only possible due to the leaderships of trade unions not being seen to seriously identify with, or seriously aid, the daily struggles and plights of the vast majority of the working people and youth. For instance, they have not organized or led any serious struggle against the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu government which have had devastating effects on the living standards of the vast majority. These include the removal of fuel subsidy with attendant exorbitant prices of petrol, devaluation of the naira and criminal hikes in school fees at higher institutions.

So, it is easy for the malicious propaganda of Dangote that the struggle of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, whose President also doubles as TUC President, is self-serving to strike a chord with a section of the populace. Besides, the leaderships of industrial unions like Food Unions which are supposed to cover other Dangote companies and also the NLC and TUC over the years have never led a serious campaign or struggle against the entrenched anti-labour practices of Dangote Group. There were instances where workers who wanted to join unions were sacked while trade unions leaders spinelessly looking the other way. This obviously suggests that until the current Dangote refinery face-off, the trade unions leadership had accepted that Dangote Group of Companies a no-go area for trade unions.

The SPN therefore calls on the trade union leaders to have a serious introspection and draw vital lessons from the experience of Dangote refinery struggle and be prepared henceforth to use the platforms of trade unions to consistently fight for the interest workers and other categories of working people and the poor. Specifically, the NLC, TUC and industrial unions must launch a serious nationwide campaign against casualisation, contract staffing, and other indecent labour practices at all companies and other workplaces in the country as part of struggle against attacks on democratic rights and anti-poor capitalist policies.

Bamigboye Abiodun (Abbey Trotsky)

Acting National Chairperson

Chinedu Bosah

National Secretary

E-mail: socialistpartyofnigeria@yahoo.com

ABBEY TROTSKY VS NIGERIA POLICE: Court Hearing Adjourned Again till November 27

Appreciation for Solidarity and Appeal for Continued Support

The long running criminal case of Abbey Trotsky vs. Nigeria Police has been adjourned till November 27, 2025, following the absence of the presiding magistrate at Magistrate Court 6, Iyaganku Division, Ibadan. The magistrate was away on official duty, although the police prosecutor had earlier noted that their third witness was not yet ready for cross-examination.

Abbey Trotsky, Oyo State Coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) and Acting National Chairperson of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), faces charges brought by Sumal Food Limited through the Nigeria Police. These charges arise from his support in October 2018 for casual workers at Sumal Food Limited who were demanding better wages and improved working conditions. These show that the criminal allegations and charges levelled, in 2019, against Abbey Trotsky are trumped up and politically motivated.

Abbey Trotsky (second from left) with supporters outside a Magistrate Court in Ibadan on September 12

The hearing drew strong solidarity from activists and trade unionists, including Prof. Ademola Aremu, Oyo State Coordinator of the Joint Action Front and former National Treasurer of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and Comrade Andrew Emelieze, former Trade Union Congress, TUC Chairman, Oyo State Chapter. Their presence highlights the broad support from left activists and pro-masses organisations for Abbey Trotsky in this protracted legal struggle.

The CDWR extends heartfelt appreciation to all media organizations, both those on the ground and those providing virtual coverage, for their steadfast attention to this case, which stands as a symbol of the fight for labour rights and social justice in Nigeria. At the same time, we are appealing for continued national and international political and financial support to sustain the legal defense and public campaign. Since the case began in 2019, it has spotlighted not only the challenges faced by pro-labour activists but also the fact that the police are tools in the hand of bosses for suppression of workers’ rights and interests. Again, the unwavering solidarity shown to Abbey Trotsky underscores the significance of this struggle against casualization and exploitative labour practices. We reiterate our consistent call on the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to take seriously the struggle against casualization

We of the CDWR remain hopeful for a just conclusion of this matter as we remain undaunted in our campaign against casualization and other forms of indecent labour practices including the defense of workers’ rights across Nigeria.

Yusuf Salaudeen

For the CDWR Oyo State chapter

E-mail: campaignworkers@yahoo.co.uk

MINIMUM WAGE – N70,000 Not Enough

Workers and Trade Unions Should Fight for Full Implementation AND Begin Mass Struggle for a Living Wage

The Nigerian working class continues to suffer under the crushing weight of high cost of living and economic crisis. The current national minimum wage of N70,000 is, in reality, a huge joke. Yet the new minimum wage, which in less than a year has been eroded by inflation and rising cost of living, has not even been implemented by many states and private sector employers. For instance, according to Punch newspaper, at least 20 states have not begun the implementation for primary school teachers and local government employees (Punch, April 7).

By Moshood Osunfurewa

All this means that there is an urgent need for workers and trade union activists to mount pressure on the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to lead a serious struggle for the implementation of the current minimum wage. As we said in a previous article, the struggle must be centrally coordinated by the national leadership even when taking place at state level. This means that workers must not be left to whims and caprices of the state labour leaderships, many of whom are bribed lapdogs of their state governors. And where state labour leaders organize a serious struggle, there must be solidarity actions initiated by the national leadership so that they are not isolated.

Besides, even in some of the states where the N70,000 minimum wage has been purportedly implemented workers’ take home has been seriously dented by heavy taxation imposed by the state governments, for instance in Kwara state. Unfortunately, instead of the Kwara state labour leadership leading a serious struggle against the anti-worker taxation they chose to grovel before the governor who granted workers three months of tax relief, which had ended in December 2024. Indeed, the labour leadership ought to have factored in the taxes when negotiating the consequential adjustment of the salary structure following the enactment of the new national minimum wage.

It should be noted that the situation in Kwara is not an isolated case. Many state labour leaders did a bad job at the expense of workers in the negotiation. This is why workers and trade union activists must fight for an arrangement which forbids labour leaders signing agreement on pays and condition with the government or private employer without having first tabled it for a democratic decision at a workers’ congress.

This experience of Kwara state and other states as well as the fact the anti-poor capitalist policies such as the fuel subsidy removal, devaluation of the naira and electricity tariff increase which labour leaders refused to resist with mass struggle have rendered the minimum wage, which from its start last July was grossly inadequate, further worthless, should not be lost on workers, trade union activists and genuine labour leaders.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that any lesson has been learned. For instance, there are tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly, which are essentially anti-worker and anti-poor. Yet, beyond mere lamentation on its adverse implications, the national labour leadership have not mobilized workers to resist the reform. Workers and trade union activists should begin agitation at workplaces and through organs of unions for the NLC and TUC to take the issue of the tax reform seriously and mobilise for a mass struggle to defeat it.

What the national labour leadership were able to achieve at the last minimum wage negotiation, albeit marginal, is the reduction of the minimum wage review cycle from 5 years to 3 years. Though, we had argued that the minimum wage should be constantly reviewed in line with the rate of inflation, this is relatively better than the old minimum wage law. This means that a new national minimum wage is due in 2027. But the process towards it must start immediately.

Therefore, workers and trade union activists should begin agitation to put pressure on the labour leaders to immediately begin mass mobilization for a new national minimum wage, in addition to enforcing the full implementation of the current one. The minimum wage should be made an important issue in the campaigns for 2027 general elections. Given the rising cost of living and inflationary rate, we are of the opinion that workers must not accept anything less than N250,000 as the new national minimum wage, and as against the current agreement, it should be automatically increased in line with inflation.

We call on workers not to accept the argument from the government it is not possible for the economy to support such a decent wage. Workers and trade unions should demand a reduction of jumbo salaries and allowances of political office holders and other top government functionaries including placing them on average wage of skilled civil servants. The wasteful and fraudulent contracts system through which roads and other projects are carried out at outrageous and inflated costs should be scrapped and replaced with democratically managed and controlled public works. This if linked with the nationalisation of the key sectors of the economy and their planning under democratic workers control and management can ensure that resources are generated to pay living wage and carry out other basic functions.

Obviously to achieve a living wage will require a serious mass struggle. We have to recognise that today Labour is not in the same position that it was twenty or more years ago. The experience of years of Labour issuing bold words which are accompanied by either no action, or token actions rapidly halted, have undermined Labour’s standing as a force that will can for working people and the poor. In this situation workers should call on the labour leaders who are not prepared for the struggle to voluntarily resign or be replaced. At the same time Labour needs to be revived from the grassroots upwards and, when necessary, initiatives need to be taken from below to start action and inspire others to join in.

This mass struggle, we have advocated, should also demand reversal of all anti-poor capitalist policies including but not restricted to reduction of fuel and electricity prices to an affordable rate. It also includes an end to casualization and contract staffing, building of new public refineries, reversal of privatization of the power sector and deregulation of oil and gas sector. However, such renationalized power sector, public refineries and oil and gas sector must be placed under democratic control of working people.

Also importantly, given the experience of the 2023 general election where all the major presidential candidates advocated broadly the same anti-poor neo-liberal policies which largely account for the current devastation of the living standards and none was committed to paying a living wage, the struggle for the demands highlighted should be linked with the need for building a democratically run, and non-monetised, mass working people party on a socialist programme. Experience, both in Nigeria and internationally has shown that on the basis of profit-first, iniquitous capitalist system, it is not possible to achieve a living wage for workers and the provision of other basic needs of life on a permanent basis. Hence, the need for a government which on the basis of democratic socialist planning make them achievable. Workers and trade unions have to fight for this.

No to Imposition of State of Emergency in Rivers State:

Working People Should Reject Tinubu Government’s Growing Descent to Civilian Dictatorship

No Illusion in Any Capitalist Politician. For a Mass Working People Political Alternative

Statement of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)

The imposition of the emergency rule in Rivers State is the latest of the anti-democratic actions from the stable of President Bola Tinubu. Recently, he forced 36 legislators of the 40-member Lagos House of Assembly who had democratically removed their speaker to reverse their decision because they did not have his blessing. Though, now in Abuja as the President, he still calls the shots in Lagos, where is a former governor, like the lord of the manor. Besides, his government regularly attacks democratic rights of working people and youth including rights to freedom of expression and protest.

Clearly throwing his official heavyweight behind Nyesom Wike, who is in political standoff with his estranged political godson Governor Sim Fubara over the control of the soul and resources of the oil-rich state, President Tinubu on March 18 suspended the Rivers governor and the State House of Assembly and appointed former Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.) as the sole administrator for the next six months. In other words, with the earlier dissolution of the local government councils on the order of the Supreme Court which nullified the process of their emergence, there is no semblance of democratic institution in Rivers State. So, what obtains at present is reminiscent of a military rule.

According to Tinubu in his national broadcast over the state of emergency, the administrator will not make new laws but he is free to formulate regulations as may be found necessary. However, such regulations are subject to the consideration and approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) where Wike sits as a Minister. Though, the House of Representatives passed a resolution that the National Assembly should take over the role of the Rivers State assembly, it does not really reduce the direct influence of the FEC on the Sole Administrator. In other words, Wike, the leader of a party to the conflict that purportedly prompted the suspension of the governor, will be involved in running the state as a FEC member. Though, the conflict is officially between the state governor and the vast majority members of the state House of Assembly, it is Wike who is pulling the strings of the latter.

To be clear, it should be stressed that Fubara, who as Rivers State Accountant General was shielded by Wike from arrest by the EFCC over corruption allegations, is not a saint in this conflict. Fubara callously demolished the Rivers House of Assembly complex and prevented the majority of members from sitting apparently to avert a possible impeachment. He derecognized 27 members in a 31-person assembly and was undemocratically dealing with four members with whom he was governing the state including on laws, budget and appointments.

It was a judgement by the Supreme Court delivered on February 28 which tilted the scales against the governor as it favoured the 27 legislators. The judgement reversed all the undemocratic actions of the governor. Therefore, after the initial grandstanding, Fubara began to make move to play ball most likely on the terms of the assembly members. For instance, following the order of the Supreme Court, he dissolved the local government councils and made a move to re-present the 2025 budget proposal which had been earlier approved by his 4-member assembly.

Therefore, there was no immediate basis for the impeachment process that the state assembly initiated against him shortly before the declaration of state of emergency. Rather, it was the resolve of Wike and his sidekick assembly members to get even with the governor that prompted the plan to remove him.

Indeed, it was not impossible that the notice of impeachment itself was a calculated tactic from the Wike camp with the support of Tinubu to create a basis for the imposition of the emergency rule. It was not likely for the impeachment plan to succeed, if it had gone ahead, as the Chief Judge of the state, who is required by the constitution to set up a panel to investigate the allegations leveled against the governor, is an ally of the governor.

No doubt, Governor Fubara fell for the trap. At a gathering shortly before his suspension, he had made a speech which only thinly veiled his endorsement of a threat of attacks on oil and gas pipelines made by some Rivers state youth should he be impeached. However, it is not yet clear whether any of the pipeline explosions that took place in the state recently had any direct link to the threat or the political crisis in the state. Indeed, according to media reports, findings have shown that some reported explosions at oil facilities were false. “For instance, the viral video on social media alleging that suspected militants bombed two Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) flow stations at Cawthorne Channel in the State was false. It was confirmed that the explosion was an old clip from a February 19, 2025, explosion at Cawthorne Channel 1 in Iloamatoru, Bonny, which claimed three lives” (Guardian March 23, 2025).

Nonetheless, Tinubu cited “disturbing incidents of vandalism of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them” as one of the grounds for the imposition of the state of emergency. However, typical of bourgeois politicians, this is a demonstration of blatant hypocrisy by Tinubu who as an opposition figure in 2013 had in condemnation of the state of emergency on Borno, Adamawa and Yobe by the then President Goodluck Jonathan, argued that state governors had no real power to guarantee security. Then in his words Tinubu said: “No Governor of a state in Nigeria is indeed the Chief Security Officer. Putting the blame on the Governors, who have been effectively emasculated, for the abysmal performance of the government at the centre which controls all these security agencies, smacks of ignorance and mischief.”

Truly, it was political mischief, not the “actual breakdown of public order and public safety” or the danger of it, that prompted the removal of the state governor. While it is for Wike to regain his fierce hold on the state and its resources, to Tinubu, it is a cold move and desperation to have an ally or a weakened opposition figure in control of the state ahead of the 2027 presidential election. It should be recalled that the local and international observers expressly believed that 2023 presidential election in Rivers State was brazenly rigged in favour of Tinubu by Wike as the then state governor. And, Wike, who was rewarded by Tinubu as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja and who has his ‘yes men’ in the national leadership of the PDP, has in further return of favour helped cripple that party such that it is unable play any real or seeming opposition to Tinubu.

Tinubu, with the lowest ever share of votes to become a President in the history of Nigeria, has even had his limited electoral support originally based on ethnic and religious affiliation eroded because of his unabashed, anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies which have had devasting effects on the vast majority. Therefore, it is not out of place to conclude that to him his re-election bid will be a do or die affair. In other words, he is prepared to do anything no matter how undemocratic and unlawful in order to be officially declared the winner of the 2027 presidential election.

So whichever way one looks at it, Tinubu’s declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State stands as an assault on civil rule. The process of the implementation of the declaration itself which saw both chambers of the National Assembly approve the undemocratic policy without first ascertaining quorum and amidst allegations of bribery is an additional indication of the absurdity of the all exercise. Therefore, the working class, the youth, unions, social movements and all credible forces must condemn and reject this development. To this extent, we welcome a joint statement of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) in which they “unequivocally condemn Mr. President’s hasty and unconstitutional declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.”

However, we disagree with them that “beyond the political and legal implications, this unjustified state of emergency will … lead to job losses, wage cuts, and economic hardship for thousands of workers in both the formal and informal sectors”. This is because the assertion gives an impression that job losses, wage cuts, and economic hardship were not a feature or reality in Rivers State, nay Nigeria, already long before Tinubu’s declaration of emergency rule. The fact is that as a result of the neo-liberal capitalist policies of Tinubu, which are supported by all the governors including Fubara and which the leaderships of the NLC and TUC have failed to seriously oppose or fight against, the economic hardship and poor economic indices, which preexisted the Tinubu government, have been greatly worsened. Indeed, the national minimum wage of N70,000 won by the NLC and TUC in 2024 is actually a wage cut if compared with N30,000 minimum wage won in 2019 as a result of inflation triggered by the anti-poor capitalist policies of Tinubu.

Nonetheless, we call on the NLC and TUC not to limit their opposition to the state of emergency in Rivers to a mere statement. They, together civil society organizations, should also organize a nationwide mass protest and other legitimate actions in order to make a bold statement against an action of Tinubu they describe as “not only unlawful but a direct assault on democracy”. But it should not also be lost on the organized labour that Fubara in the course of the conflict was also a culprit of “direct assault on democracy”.

Good enough, the Rivers State councils of both the NLC and TUC have already indicated that “the organised labour may be compelled to take strategic union actions which might disrupt national economic activities if our demands are not met within a reasonable timeframe.” However, this must not be a mere hot air.

Moreover, the protest we have proposed and whatever action Labour may plan must not be limited to rejecting the emergency rule in Rivers alone but generally include all the attacks on democratic rights of working people and youth and the descent to civilian dictatorship, something which has become a feature of the Tinubu government. In order to ride roughshod over the working people with its anti-poor policies, stifling of democratic rights including freedom of expression and criminalization of protest have become a state policy of the Tinubu government. For instance, over 2000 persons including minors were incarcerated for about two months in police detention and prison in connection with #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest against mass hunger and economic hardship in August last year. Not done, Tinubu government has preferred trumped-up charges including treason which carries death penalty, before Federal High Court Abuja, against 11 activists including Adaramoye Michael Lenin, National Coordinator of YRC and a member of DSM because, according to the police court paper, they carried placards with inscription: “End Bad Government”! Many young people and bloggers have also been detained or made to face sham trial on undemocratic, fraudulent cyber laws.

The latest action of President Tinubu represents a concrete escalation in the situation in Nigeria. More and more, Tinubu regime is acting like a dictatorship in a bid to push through its anti-poor economic reforms and maintain political control while in the process undermining civil rule in the eyes of the masses especially the youth. This may have implication in the near future. At the moment, the truth will not be lost on many – that an ‘elected’ president enlisted elements of the military (even though retired) in an attempt to take control of an opposition-rule state ahead of the next general elections.

Going forward, while working people must resist attacks on democratic rights and any action or measure that tends to further erode even the limited democratic space which has been won, they must not have illusion in any capitalist politician or line behind any section of the capitalist ruling elite. The experiences since the return to the civilian rule in 1999, for instance, have shown that all capitalist politicians at all levels are prepared to unleash “direct assault on democracy” to advance their self-serving interests, and they all carry out anti-poor policies as a logical consequence of their inequitable, profit-first and greed-enabling capitalist system. Therefore, in order for the working people and youth to really enjoin what is popularly termed in Nigeria as “dividends of democracy” there is need, in addition to consistent struggle against anti-poor capitalist policies, for a mass working party that could wrest power from the thieving capitalist ruling elite and begin to organize the country on the democratic basis of socialist planning.

Peluola Adewale

Organising Secretary

For Democratic Socialist Movement

CDWR Demands End to Exploitation of Lagos State Sweepers

The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the response from the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) concerning the inhumane treatment and exploitation of Lagos State sweepers. Rather than addressing the grave issues raised, LAWMA’s response was a futile attempt to save face, revealing its complicity in the unjust and exploitative system it oversees in connivance with contractors under its supervision. We strongly condemn the illegal and exploitative practices employed by LAWMA and its contractors in engaging sweepers under degrading and substandard working conditions.

A recent viral video brought to public attention the harrowing realities faced by the Lagos State sweepers. In the video, a female sweeper courageously spoke out about the pain, suffering, and indignities inflicted upon her and thousands of sweeper colleagues by the Lagos State government and its contractors. Among the shocking revelations were the imposition of slave wages that fall far below the legally stipulated minimum wage of N80,000, the requirement for sweepers to purchase brooms and other necessary work tools using their meager salaries, and the absence of safety gear, thereby exposing sweepers to dangerous working conditions while sweeping highways, roads, and bridges.

This distressing situation is yet another revelation to the failures of privatization, which serves as a mechanism for government cronies and corrupt officials to siphon public funds while subjecting hardworking individuals to inhumane treatment. In line with the fraudulent contract system, privileged individuals within the corridors of power are given contract to employ sweepers and in turn the contract pay sweepers a fraction of the salary they are entitled to, hereby allow the contractors to earn fat profit. In this case, Lagos State Government through LAWMA may pay the contractors N80,000 or more for each sweeper but sweepers gets about N40,000 or less. So, the contractors pockets about N40,000 for each sweepers monthly and a whopping N480 million annually if the sweepers are 10,000.

The Lagos State government, under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), continues to demonstrate blatant disregard for workers’ rights. Instead of ensuring decent wages and working conditions for workers who keep the state clean, the government promotes exploitative policies that benefit profiteers and corrupt politicians at their expense. However, the plight of Lagos State sweepers is not an isolated case but a reflection of the broader injustice experienced by many workers across both public and private sectors not only in Lagos but also nationally.

CDWR hereby calls on the Lagos State government to immediately ensure that all sweepers receive the minimum wage as stipulated by law and be subjected to the upgraded minimum wage structure. Sweepers should be given permanent and regularized employment under LAWMA, as many have worked for over six years as contract staff. All parasitic contractor arrangements under LAWMA must be discontinued, and contractors responsible for violating workers’ rights must be held accountable and prosecuted for gross misconduct.

We also call the two labour centres – the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) – to take decisive actions to support the struggle and demands of the sweepers. These should include solidarity protests and the demand for an immediate recognition of the rights of the sweepers to form or join a union or association of their choice to enable them to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions.

The CDWR stands firmly in support of the Lagos State sweepers and all workers fighting for decent pays and conditions, dignity of labour, fair treatment, and economic justice. We urge the Lagos State government to end its complicity in labour exploitation and take immediate steps to rectify these injustices.

Rufus Olusesan

National Chairperson

Chinedu Bosah

National Publicity Secretary

CDWR email: campaignworkers@yahoo.co.uk

President Tinubu’s Claim of Decline in food prices amidst mass hunger and sufferings is Fallacious

Only economy and agricultural system run on the basis of needs and not profits through massive state investments can guarantee food security

FFRC calls on farmers, market men /women and all suffering Nigerians to organize and demand an end to hunger and cost of living crises

The attention of the Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign (FFRC) has been drawn to a remark by the President Bola Tinubu, that his anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist economic policies have reduced the soaring prices of food items and brought reliefs to the fasting Muslim community and indeed Nigerians at large.

According to media reports, President Tinubu made this remark in a message to the Muslim community on Friday, February 28th, 2025. He was quoted as saying “the once-soaring prices of essential food items are now trending downward, providing much-needed relief to our fasting population and Nigerians”!

He went further by saying that “as the wet season approaches, we remain steadfast in boosting agricultural productivity. We are determined to enhance food production and ensure food security for all Nigerians”.

The FFRC wishes to note that contrary to President Tinubu’s claims, his pro-rich anti-poor economic policies as prescribed by the IMF/World bank, rather than brings reliefs, have brought untold and unprecedented hardships and sufferings of unimaginable proportions on the mass of poor suffering and fasting Muslim population. The policies have also made the vast majority of poor and working masses starved, and go hungry without food. Therefore, the claim of relief by President Tinubu is an insult to the sensitivity of poor suffering Nigerians, and also at the best a figment of his imagination!

Admittedly, FFRC notes that there are indeed marginal reductions in some prices of essential food items like rice, beans and garri. However these decreases fizzle into thin air and amount to nothingness when juxtaposed with the soaring cost of other food items like pepper, tomatoes, yam, egg, beef, dairy products, etc which have currently skyrocketed. In addition, the increments in fees across tertiary institutions nationwide; the current prohibitive house rents across cities; high cost of drugs and treatments in both public and private health institutions among others have made nonsense of President Tinubu’s touted ‘downward trends’ of soaring food prices.

So what the APC-led Tinubu’s government is doing is dishing out propaganda and gaslighting the general public in vain attempts at understating the deleterious and iniquitous effects of it fuel subsidy removal and the devaluation of the Naira for the suffering majority. The FFRC wishes to put on record that while the poor and working masses continue to gasp for breath under the choking anti-poor policies of the Tinubu government, the ruling elites, both the public office holders and big business bosses continue to corruptly fish in the socioeconomic and political murky waters.

The Tinubu government also claimed that “as the wet season approaches, we remain steadfast in boosting agricultural productivity. We are determined to enhance food production and ensure food security for all Nigerians”! The FFRC wishes to state without mincing words, that this would amount to sheer rhetoric and grandstanding, unless a determined struggle is waged to demand that government at all levels invest public funds in social services like affordable housing, electricity , education, healthcare system, agricultural productivity etc, placing same under democratic management and control, so as to meet the needs of the suffering majority and not profit for a few rich. With this it is possible to begin to guarantee food security and reduce cost of living crises. Any thing short of these would remain a mirage.

The FFRC also urges farmers’ market men and women, workers and the poor majority who are barely surviving, to come together and organize to demand that government reverse fuel subsidy removal, devaluation of the Naira, increase in electricity tariff, and other anti-poor policies which largely account for the current suffering and hardship.

Eko John Nicholas

National Coordinator

Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign (FFRC)

Lagos State House of Assembly Crisis: APC One Party Dictatorship Is a Danger to Democratic Rights and Civil Rule

The resolution of the leadership crisis which rocked the Lagos State House of Assembly for seven weeks is a warning to the working class, youth and the poor masses of Lagos state of the danger that the increasingly totalitarian one-party rule of the All-Progressive Congress (APC) constitutes to civil rule. On January 13, 2025, Mudashiru Obasa and the Clerk were removed in absentia by 36 out of the 40 members who constitute the House of Assembly and replaced by his deputy, Mojisola Meranda.

Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) statement

In moving the motion for Obasa’s removal, Femi Saheed, representing Kosofe constituency, accused him of gross misconduct and highhandedness amidst other allegations including “mismanagement of funds and lack of time transparency in his management of the House of Assembly funds” (Premium Times 13 January 2025). Despite the severity of these allegations, till this day, neither President Bola Tinubu, who reportedly felt slighted and undermined by being blindsided by the Assembly members before they removed Obasa, nor the Assembly members who made the allegations against Obasa have even bothered to ask for an investigation. The ruling APC has likewise not bothered to question Obasa. Neither the EFCC or ICPC which routinely goes after every petty criminal on the streets has bothered to even invite Obasa for questioning over these allegations.

Instead, at the insistence of Tinubu, the overwhelmingly democratic decision of the members of the assembly was unashamedly thrashed as Obasa was restored as the Speaker on March 3. Indeed, before then the security agencies, including the Police and the Department of State Security (DSS), who had initially protected the decision of the 36 members of the Assembly changed track once it was clear that Tinubu was not in support of it and shifted loyalty to Obasa who had just three other members lining behind him. For instance, on February 28, Obasa with heavy security successfully invaded the House of Assembly and held a plenary of 4 lawmakers in a show of shame that is unparalleled in the recent history of the State.

Unfortunately caught up in the show of shame are three House of Assembly workers who were alleged to have assaulted officials of the DSS on February 17 2025 when DSS operatives attempted to forcefully gain entry into the House of Assembly. We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional release of Ibrahim Olanrewaju Abdulkareem, Adetu Adekunle Samsudeen, and Fatimoh Oluwatosin Adetola and the dropping of charges against them. We urge the trade unions in the state especially the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) to openly defend these workers and demand their release. They should also commence a political campaign involving protests and strikes until the workers are freed.

Indeed, workers have a right to defend their workplace in a case of invasion by alien forces. It is the officials of the DSS who should have operated with restraint and civility when they encountered civil resistance to their attempt to gain an entry into the chambers on the said date. As the DSS itself would later find out, many members of the public including journalists were genuinely confused about the objective of the DSS at the assembly on that day. Singling these workers out for punishment for a confusion created by the heated controversy over the leadership crisis in the House of Assembly is both unfair and unacceptable.

As expected for the ruling APC, the plan ab initio was to settle controversy as an internal family affair. This is because any serious probe into any allegation of financial impropriety will expose the entire APC as a party of thieves and rogues. Even the members of the Assembly who removed Obasa will not be spared as their hands are not clean. This is not the first time when cracks emerge within the totalitarian one-party rule of the APC in Lagos state that allegations of financial impropriety emerge against elected office holders but which are quickly swept under the carpet once the political interest of the powers that be had been settled.

This is why the attempt to cover this up must be rejected. The affairs of the House of Assembly are matters of public interest. To this extent, these allegations cannot be ignored or covered up. They must be investigated because it is taxpayers’ money that is involved. We therefore call for the setting up of a public probe panel, made up elected representatives of trade unions, civil society organizations, professional bodies, community and youth groups, to investigate these allegations not just against Obasa but all members of the House of Assembly as well as the executive.

For far too long, Lagos state despite its global importance as a modern city and the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria has been run as the private property of certain powerful overlords in the ruling All-Progressive Congress (APC) and who, by virtue of their political dominance, claim the right to extract rent on the state vide a variety of means. A statement made by the chairman of the unelected APC’s Governance Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos State, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, made before the reinstatement of Obasa, regarding the crisis rocking the House of Assembly is relevant here. According to him, lawmakers “have no absolute power to remove and install their leaders” (ThisDay Newspaper 3rd March 2025). So, who really have the right to elect the leaders of the elected Assembly, the godfathers? What this statement really shows is how the kingmakers in the ruling party truly see the State as an extension of their sphere of influence for self-serving interest.

Suffice to note that as a result of this one-party totalitarianism, governance in Lagos state has become an exercise in organized deception. Today, the Lagos State government is one of the least accountable and transparent state governments in Nigeria. All its activities including the state’s annual budgets are shrouded in opaqueness while the state treasury is left to the mercy of party chieftains and kingmakers who operate like mafia dons. So bad is the situation that Lagos state government does not even care to respond to freedom of information requests from journalists and civil society groups seeking information about its finances. Right now, the state government is one of the parties arguing at the Supreme Court that it is not bound by the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to further shield itself from public scrutiny.

By all means, again the manner by which the democratic wish of the vast majority of members of the assembly was brazenly discarded and Obasa reinstated because of the self-serving interest of Tinubu and a few is a warning of the danger the ruling APC represents for civil rule and why a working peoples’ political alternative is urgently needed in Lagos state nay the country. Most of the old parties, like the PDP, are not an alternative, they also loot when they have the chance. We need to build a mass political party of the working class, radical youth and poor Lagosians to end the totalitarian rule of the APC and enthrone a new government that would be committed to implement a socialist plan to utilize the vast wealth of Lagos state and stamp out looting and leaders enriching themselves, in order to begin to meet the needs of all residents.

Peluola Adewale

Organising Secretary

For Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)

HANDS OFF ENGINEER KHALID AMINU

The action taken by the DSS in Kaduna state to sue Engineer Khalid Aminu for libel for speaking out about the torture he experienced during his illegal arrest and detention for over 60 days following last year’s #EndBadGovernance protest is vexatious and utterly reprehensible.

As the State High Court in Kaduna State prepares to hear a case of libel brought by the Department of State Services (DSS) against Engineer Khalid Aminu, we of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) consider it imperative to ask the DSS, Kaduna state division, to hands off comrade Aminu and desist from further raising tension in the polity through flagrant legal processes aimed at muzzling voices of opposition and legitimate dissent. Instead we ask the DSS to tender a public apology and pay adequate compensation to Engineer Khalid Aminu for arresting and detaining him for over 60 days illegally and in violation of his rights and civil liberties.

In the said suit which is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday 25 February 2025, the DSS is asking Khalid Aminu to publish a public apology in “two widely read National Newspapers and all his Social Media Platforms retracting the said Negligent Misstatement”. Also the DSS is seeking the honourable court to issue an order granting one hundred million naira as general damages against the defendant and 60 million naira as cost of action. In total, the DSS is seeking damages worth 160 million naira against Engineer Khalid Aminu for speaking out about his illegal arrest and torture last year by operatives of the agency.

Recall that Engineer Khalid Aminu was one of the key organisers of the #Endbadgovernance protest which rocked Kaduna state and several states in the country between 1st and 10 August last year. The protest which erupted due to the impact of the anti-poor and neo-liberal policies of the Tinubu capitalist administration on prices of fuel, food and the overall cost of living has become an enduring symbol of resistance in Nigeria as it highlights how citizens facing starvation and hunger due to terrible government policies can unite and organize to peacefully demand accountability.

Instead of responding to the protesters’ demands, the Tinubu regime embarked on widespread crackdown with police and other security agencies unleashing a killing spree which left about 40 Nigerians dead while about 2,100 others including minors were arrested and thrown into jail.

Khalid Aminu was arrested while mobilising for the protest and he was brutally beaten before he was taken into detention. While in detention, Aminu was denied access to his family and legal representation for several weeks– a reason why his family initially thought he was kidnapped not knowing he was wasting away in a DSS cell. After his release, Khalid Aminu, who still suffers untold physical and psychological damages from his experience, has been telling his story in the process exposing the sordid detail of the inner workings of Nigeria’s ruthless security apparatus especially the shadowy DSS.

This legal step taken by the DSS is not only an abuse and a waste of tax payers’ money, it is also an attempt to shutdown Khalid Aminu in order to cover up the brutality and torture that has become a routine of security operatives in Nigeria despite the country being signatory to numerous international treaties and conventions that forbids torture of prisoners and detainees.

We hereby call on the DSS to halt this reckless and vexatious effort to harass Khalid Aminu into silence.

Francis Nwapa

YRC National Secretary.

Email: youth_rights@yahoo.com

ERC Condemns Violent Clampdown On Federal University Lokoja Students

WE CONDEMN THE VIOLENT CLAMPDOWN ON THE PEACEFUL PROTEST OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LOKOJA STUDENTS BY POLICE AND DSS OFFICERS

ALL THE DEMANDS OF THE STUDENTS FOR A SAFE CAMPUS MUST BE MET!

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) sternly condemns the violent clampdown on a peaceful protest organized by students of Federal University Lokoja over the tragic death of 4 students of the school. While throwing our weight behind the mass of Federal University Lokoja students, we warn the authorities against any attempt to victimize students over their legitimate agitations for a safe learning environment.

Recall, that on Monday, 17th of February 2025 a shuttle bus containing 4 students and the driver was crumpled by a heavy truck which led to the death of 4 students and the bus driver, while the only survivor is in a critical health condition. Following this tragedy, students gathered to mourn their colleagues’ painful loss and demand a safe campus. On Thursday February 20, students gathered at the school gate to continue their peaceful protest for a safe campus. Just a few hours into the protest, the University management under the leadership of Professor Olayemi Akinwumi, ordered the indefinite closure of the school, asking all students to vacate the school premises by 12 noon. This meant that students had just one hour to prepare to leave, including those traveling long distance. This act is condemnable, and it is a sheer attempt to shut the voices of students. One would expect a responsible university management to rather begin the process of ensuring the safety of students instead of trying to shut down their voices. Also, the school management mobilized Policemen and DSS officers to unleash havoc on students.

The use of brute force on protesting students who had conducted themselves peacefully is an attack on democratic rights. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi is an enemy of the students and an enemy of public education. Since becoming Vice-Chancellor, he has implemented policies that have led to excruciating pain for students. When students complained of the growing insecurity for those living off-campus, he did nothing other than watch students suffer and die. Therefore, his recent atrocity of mobilizing policemen to attack students doesn’t come as a complete shock to those who are familiar with his history of notoriety.

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) reiterates the need for the demands of students, placed on the government and school management, to be met. There is a need to revamp the expressway and provide measures, including alternative lanes for heavy duty vehicles and trucks, to ensure commuters are not exposed to the daily danger that the highway now portends. In addition to the need to repair the road, a pedestrian flyover and overhead bridge should be constructed to ensure students and workers don’t have to deal with the daily dangers lurking on the road. Road safety officers should also be adequately positioned around the part linking the road to the campus while also constructing modernized speed-breakers. In the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), we believe that the school authority must drastically reduce the cost of school hostel accommodation and build more conducive hostels for students. 130,000 naira for a bed space is exploitation!

The ERC firmly stands with students of Federal University Lokoja in their struggle for a safe academic environment and against the tyranny of Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi.

Ogunjimi Isaac,

Deputy National Coordinator

Adaramoye Michael Lenin,

National Mobilization Officer

Email: edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk

ERC MOURNS THE TRAGIC DEATH OF 7 STUDENTS OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LOKOJA

WE PLACE THE BLAME FOR THIS TRAGIC LOSS ON THE INEPTITUDE OF THE UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT

STUDENTS MUST FIGHT TO COMPEL THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE MEASURES TO PREVENT RECURRENCE

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condoles with students of Federal University of Lokoja over the tragic loss of 7 students, who died under awful circumstances on Monday 17 February 2025. The deceased met a sad end when a truck crumpled the campus shuttle they boarded. Notably, the loss of innocent lives in this gruesome manner has become a frequent occurrence. This is majorly because the University management and government have not shown any concern beyond talks, neither have they shown any readiness to address the situation and prevent future occurrences. The university Vice Chancellor Prof. Okayemi Akinwumi, the Kogi state government, and the federal government must be held responsible for this painful loss.

The Federal University Lokoja is situated along the Lokoja-Abuja highway, something which exposes students and staff to the daily danger of commuting through this road which is in a terrible condition. This is what has been claiming innocent lives. Despite the severity of this situation, the University authorities and the government have not taken steps to ensure that preventive measures are provided. In addition to the need to repair the road, a pedestrian flyover and overhead bridge ought to have been constructed to ensure students and workers don’t have to deal with the daily dangers lurking on the road. Road safety officers should also be adequately positioned around the part linking the road to the campus while also constructing modernized speed-breakers.

It is necessary to state that many students reside off-campus because the University authorities have woefully failed to provide cheap, adequate and conducive accommodation for students on campus. For instance, hostel accommodation on campus costs about N130, 000 per student for a room to be occupied by 4 students, this is aside the terrible state of these hostels. This is why many students opt for accommodation outside the school. The University management, if genuinely concerned about students’ safety, must drastically reduce the cost of accommodation and also begin the process of building new hostels, commensurate with the population of students. These are the ways to ensure students are kept safe on campus and not exposed to unnecessary dangers outside.

We of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) welcome the call of the students’ union for lecture-free days to mourn the deceased students. However, we strongly believe that the demands of the union should go beyond this. The students’ union is a democratic platform of students meant to protect their interest, a situation that concerns the lives of students must be treated with pertinent urgency. As a first step, we propose that the students’ union leadership call a general congress of students to allow students to discuss this sad incident and how to prevent future occurrences. The union must fight to ensure the university management and Government urgently provide adequate measures to prevent future occurrences.

Ogunjimi Isaac,

Deputy National Coordinator

Adaramoye Michael Lenin,

National Mobilization Officer

Are you dissatisfied with the situation of your school and interested in struggling to make it better and also make society better? Then join the ERC today as we campaign for a safe campus and a better education sector and society!

edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk