March 10, 2024 (EIRNS)—Speaking to the Medical and Health Workers Union on March 8, President of the Nigeria Labor Congress Joe Ajaero first lamented the unsurvivability of the current economic crisis brought upon the country by monetarist policies of President Bola Tinubu, and then argued that the government must allow them to leave.
In comments widely reported by national media, Ajaero first recalled the desperation of the population, saying, “Food has become so scarce that Nigerians have become scavengers and resorting to raiding food trucks and warehouses for food. If those in government cannot see the danger in what is happening, we [labor] see it and must ensure that the government fulfills its duties to the people.
Laying the responsibility directly at Tinubu’s feet, Ajaero continued, saying that, “If anybody is arousing the people, it is those in government whose policies have impoverished the people and stripped them of those values that make them human beings.” At one point referring to his own (and labor’s) fight as a “divine mission,” Ajaero said, “We cannot be cowed. We cannot surrender our natural mandate to powers and agents of poverty and emasculation.”
