Nigerian Workers are perhaps the most offended, globally. They’ve languished so much in the gross hands of our Government. No salary, low salary, half salary are what accompanies their months. I even learned ‘Modulated Salary’ has now made it into the industrial lexicon.
Over the years, the word Labor has been made so synonymous with Strike. We don’t seem to have work-ridden breaks anymore. From Health Workers to Labor Union, NUT to AASU— the Ígwe’ of all Strikers— strike looms from every angle, every hour.
Our workers are hungry, ravenous. Our kids are spending large chunks of their academic hours at home. Calendars are crashing in our tertiary institutions. To become an accountant, half-a-dozen years are required; to make a doctor, an entire decade!
Warning strike, indefinite strike, full strike, road block. All these appear on our TV screens, nearly every moment. Thunders are scared of domination, lest our Labor should elbow them out of the striking business. Even Sàngó, the god of Thunder himself, is not too pleased with the development.
Banner designers are making money. Cardboard selling is getting more lucrative. As workers roam the streets expressing their grievances, lurking around Government Houses, sometimes tear-gased by security operatives, we the ordinary masses bear the brunt. Yet, our Government have always played smart.
When I leant about the ongoing general warning strike, I was moved. Nigerian Government have always found means to outwit our workers. We too tolerate and persevere. We give up so easily. They know this. So, they take advantage of it.
Strike from today till tomorrow, chant poems of solidarity, carry placards and block roads, our Government are sure, you’ll soon get tired. They enact a 'no work, no pay’ mandate. When the relics of your last salaries get exhausted, without hope of incoming ones, you’d get back to work. And they’ve always won. Perhaps why, despite years of incessant strikes, nothing has been achieved. Here we are, still.
But as much as I empathize with our Workers, the ongoing warning strike was not properly premeditated. Miscalculations abound, prompting anticipated ineffectiveness. Whoever came to such resolution must have been induced by desperateness.
The timing was wrong. It’s month end, when workers ought to be smiling to the bank. The strike has put their salaries on hold, a room for government excuses. It’s even beginning to seem as a personal interest of the labor leadership.
Besides, the one week strike has been set into holidays— weekend and October 1st. Starting on Wednesday, out of seven days, three have been automatically forfeited.
Meanwhile, no atmosphere of civil disobedience has been suggested, thus far. No complete shutdown of trade. Filling stations, Banks, others still open. It in fact took almost two days into the strike before I became aware. And so has it been with the majority of the populace. And as it stands, the strike is no more than a childs-play to the Government, as no significant effect of it has been really felt.
Many have even argued that given the economic status of the nation, a over 100% increment in minimum wage is too outrageous to ask for at the moment-- though, I partly disagree.
Anyway, whatever the case may be, we appeal to the Government to see to the decade-long plights of our hardworking workers. They deserve some encouragement. If not for anything, at least, for the sake of real thunders, whose jobs have been snatched away by our striking workers.
Our workers have become thunders, themselves. Striking has become really competitive. And the real thunders are freaking out. May we not see the wrath of Sàngó O!
Our workers are hungry, ravenous. Our kids are spending large chunks of their academic hours at home. Calendars are crashing in our tertiary institutions. To become an accountant, half-a-dozen years are required; to make a doctor, an entire decade!
Warning strike, indefinite strike, full strike, road block. All these appear on our TV screens, nearly every moment. Thunders are scared of domination, lest our Labor should elbow them out of the striking business. Even Sàngó, the god of Thunder himself, is not too pleased with the development.
Banner designers are making money. Cardboard selling is getting more lucrative. As workers roam the streets expressing their grievances, lurking around Government Houses, sometimes tear-gased by security operatives, we the ordinary masses bear the brunt. Yet, our Government have always played smart.
When I leant about the ongoing general warning strike, I was moved. Nigerian Government have always found means to outwit our workers. We too tolerate and persevere. We give up so easily. They know this. So, they take advantage of it.
Strike from today till tomorrow, chant poems of solidarity, carry placards and block roads, our Government are sure, you’ll soon get tired. They enact a 'no work, no pay’ mandate. When the relics of your last salaries get exhausted, without hope of incoming ones, you’d get back to work. And they’ve always won. Perhaps why, despite years of incessant strikes, nothing has been achieved. Here we are, still.
But as much as I empathize with our Workers, the ongoing warning strike was not properly premeditated. Miscalculations abound, prompting anticipated ineffectiveness. Whoever came to such resolution must have been induced by desperateness.
The timing was wrong. It’s month end, when workers ought to be smiling to the bank. The strike has put their salaries on hold, a room for government excuses. It’s even beginning to seem as a personal interest of the labor leadership.
Besides, the one week strike has been set into holidays— weekend and October 1st. Starting on Wednesday, out of seven days, three have been automatically forfeited.
Meanwhile, no atmosphere of civil disobedience has been suggested, thus far. No complete shutdown of trade. Filling stations, Banks, others still open. It in fact took almost two days into the strike before I became aware. And so has it been with the majority of the populace. And as it stands, the strike is no more than a childs-play to the Government, as no significant effect of it has been really felt.
Many have even argued that given the economic status of the nation, a over 100% increment in minimum wage is too outrageous to ask for at the moment-- though, I partly disagree.
Anyway, whatever the case may be, we appeal to the Government to see to the decade-long plights of our hardworking workers. They deserve some encouragement. If not for anything, at least, for the sake of real thunders, whose jobs have been snatched away by our striking workers.
Our workers have become thunders, themselves. Striking has become really competitive. And the real thunders are freaking out. May we not see the wrath of Sàngó O!
Muneer Yaqub,
Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
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