The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday raised concerns over the federal government’s alleged plan to reduce the tenure of labour union leaders to two years.
The labour centre declared it would not be intimidated by what it described as an orchestrated campaign against its leadership and operations.
The NLC’s head of information and public affairs, Comrade Benson Upah, who addressed journalists in Abuja on the development, including last week’s raid on the NLC secretariat, accused the government of gross interference in the unions’ internal matters, warning that the move is part of a broader strategy to weaken the labour movement.
Upah stated that if the government insists on a two-year tenure for union leaders, it should apply the same standard to all public offices, including the presidency.
The NLC spokesman also condemned the government’s attempts to suppress the NLC’s voice, including a recent threat from the Registrar of Trade Unions regarding the NLC’s relationship with the Labour Party, stating that the action violated constitutional rights and international labour conventions.
The NLC also responded to police statements justifying the raid, dismissing their claims as contradictory and lacking credibility.
The union further challenged the police to provide evidence for their actions and expressed concern over the potential risks posed by the raid, vowing to hold the police accountable for any future incidents.
He said, “Government is also frantically working to reduce to two the number of years trade unionists could hold office. This constitutes a gross interference in the internal running of the trade unions in violation of the corpus of labour laws and ILO conventions.
We advise the government to stop further acts of intimidation against the Nigeria Labour Congress and indeed against the generality of Nigerians”.
“We demand that government put an end to this hybrid war against congress. However, if government feels two years is the best tenure to go, it should be two years for every one including the President of the country.
“We advise the government to stop meddling in the affairs of Labour Party even as it’s destabilization campaign against opposition parties has reached a crescendo. The decision of a competent court of jurisdiction guides our actions.”
