Hundreds of May Day protesters marched in scores of cities across Nigeria demanding the government take further action, and address issues faced by millions many say are being ignored.
Hundreds of May Day protesters marched in scores of cities across Nigeria demanding the government take further action, and address issues faced by millions many say are being ignored.
In Lagos, the Joint Action Front, led by Comrade Aremu, led a protest in front of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, and witnessed by other dignitaries, at the May Day rally held at the Onikan Stadium.
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Many of the demonstrators were students who carried placards addressing numerous issues that drew the attention of the onlookers. Some of those placards read, for example, "Education is a Right! Gov. Fashola Enjoyed free tuition in UNIBEN why #350,000 now!" And another that drew applause read, "Hike in LASU Fees by Fashola/APC is peak of Wickedness! Reverse it Now or..."
In the same vain, Comrade Segun Sango lamented that it is a pity that another May Day has met workers in the midst of unrelenting suffering, agony, and poverty. He asserted that the challenges afflicting the Nigeria workers are “multi-faceted against the backdrop of the immense human and natural resources that the country possesses.”
Citing the case of minimum wage issues, he said that, “the minimum wage was promulgated since 2011, and as of today no organ of government from either the Federal, State to Local Government has fully implemented it.”
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Segun Sango calls for the trade union movement to “step up (a) working class alternative struggle.
“The kind of suffering that the Nigerian workers are going through, and the nature of underdevelopment is not justified by our stupendous human and natural resources” he said. “This is happening because of the rule of capitalism. Capitalist rule does not border on human resources. Nigeria, with a population of 170 million people, is a country where 75% of the population is (made up of) young people. Most are below the age of 25, an age of activity and agility, an age where you need food, where you need jobs, yet what has Nigeria provided for them?”
Segun Sango also said that, “the past years of governance in this country has been a monumental failure”.
Sango’s group, and others, is calling on the NLC and the trade union movement to step up the struggle and agitation for a workers alternative.
Other rallies around Nigeria have been peaceful, but vocal, where citizens have held rallies in front of government buildings, and offices in at least three other cities.
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