May Day also known as the International Workers Day, is a day set aside to celebrate workers and highlight their struggles. It came into effect in 1889 to beam the spotlight on workers’ struggle, a fallout of Haymarket affair in Chicago, U. S. A, where workers led a protest to insist on working for eight hours instead of the 12 hours a day, besides other welfare issues.
Here in Nigeria, led by the Labour Unions, workers on Sunday, held rallies across the country to mark the event and advocate for better welfare. And following a pre-May day rally by the Nigeria Labour Congress, a major focus of this year’s celebration centred around, a call on Nigerian workers to get their PVCs and make their voices and votes count ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) therefore called for peace, stability, security and good governance as workers mark this year’s International Workers Day on May 1.
He said workers through their unions, have made a lot of struggles for social justices in the system and in some climes, they must be recognised and appreciated for their contributions in creating wealth in Nigeria.
He, therefore, said the theme of the 2022 May Day, tried to capture the mood of the moment with the theme: “Labour, Politics, the Quest for Good Governance and Development’’.
According to him, “this is to capture the mood of the moment, whereas there is a lot of challenges, including the security challenge, confronting Nigerians today from different facets”.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan, in his message, assured workers that the National Assembly will continue to partner with the Organised Labour to address issues relating to them.
He called for a speedy and amicable resolution to the months-old Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.
Lawan in his message the Nigerian workers said “Nigerian workers deserve our appreciations and respects for their contributions to the development of our country.”
“As Parliament, the National Assembly will continue to partner with the Organised Labour in addressing issues that affect workers and the generality of the Nigerian people.
“In the spirit of May Day, I appeal for a speedy and amicable resolution of the ongoing negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to ensure that our universities reopen for learning and research.
Joining the rest of the global community to commemorate the 2022 International Workers Day (IWD), The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged government at all levels to observe international best practices in handling labour-related matters.
They also stated that prioritising the rights of workers is critical given that human resources remain the drivers of development in any clime.
They further stated that entrenching good working relations between employers and employees both in the government and private sectors in Nigeria will bring about industrial harmony rather than suspicion, tension, and strike which all come with their attendant negative tolls on the society while insisting that Nigeria as a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), cannot afford to renege on the acceptable standards of relationship with the workforce.
On the current strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and three other labour unions, the NHRC Boss enjoined the federal government to expedite action to resolve the current impasse with ASUU so as not to further endanger the right to education of the university students who have lost an academic year as a result of the unfortunate strike.
It could be recalled that Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on a four-week warning strike on February 14. On March 14, the union extended the industrial action by another two months to allow the government meet all of its demands.
The academics are seeking improved welfare, revitalisation of public universities and academic autonomy among other demands. One bone of contention for the academics is the non-payment of university revitalisation funds, which amounts to about N1.1 trillion.
But the Federal Government has said it doesn’t have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices during the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The agreement was reportedly struck in 2009. Another is the issue of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
It is our stand that Incessant ASUU strike has continued to constitute a major threat to the right to Education of students of our tertiary institutions especially the public Universities where the grater population of our youth attend.
We therefore call on all the parties to use the opportunity of this year’s IWD to resolve all issues outstanding on the strike and get the students back to school and stop the further violation of their right to education and development.
