Oshiomhole faults ongoing nationwide strike, says it has political undertone

“Let me be clear that I do not support the brutalization of any Nigerian. I emphasise, any Nigerian including a journalist, the unemployed and of course, labour leaders’’

A former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Sen. Adams Oshiomhole has faulted the ongoing nationwide strike by organized labour, saying it appeared to be motivated more by political considerations.

Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North in the National Assembly, said the strike should rather be worker-focused.

The one-time Edo governor and ex-National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) stated this on Tuesday in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

“As the President of the NLC, I made no friends with any politician in Edo State. You have to be careful not to be seen to be doing the bidding of a particular candidate or a particular political party.

“Although the labour movement cannot be apolitical because politics is all about the people and I argued when I was in NLC that nobody has a right to be partisan much more than those who turn the wheel of our industrial progress.

“But in saying that we must recognize that however how hard you try, when it comes to politics people are going to have different reasons for supporting different candidates,’’ he said.

Oshiomhole, who said he would always be on the side of Nigerian workers as a former labour leader in the country, wondered why the organized labour did not mobilize against some states that have yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage years after it was approved rather than fighting the federal government that had already approved the N35,000 wage award.

“They should hold state governments that have not paid the minimum wage to local government workers and state workers accountable,’’ he said.

Persecondnews reported that the Trade Union Congress and the Nigeria Labour Congress have called out their members beginning from midnight of November 14 to protest the brutalization of Joe Ajaero, the NLC president in Owerri, Imo capital, about two weeks ago.

Still admonishing labour leaders to be united in the fight for workers’ welfare nationwide, Oshiomhole promised to support their cause as a senator.

“If these are the issues on the table even as a senator I will publicly support any action against any government that thinks that we should lament away our hunger.

“Unfortunately, this strike is not about those issues and I think we have to be careful not to mix our political opinion with our responsibilities because the issues confronting workers are so many that they should become the priority,’’ the senator also said.

On the brutalization of Ajaero, Oshiomhole declared: ‘`Let me be clear that I do not support the brutalization of any Nigerian. I emphasise, any Nigerian including a journalist, the unemployed and of course, labour leaders.

“But I’m saying in terms of what you might call the hierarchy of needs and challenges that we face, I think that NLC should robustly engage all the state governors or the state governments, who have not implemented the agreement.’’