Perhaps the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) didn’t know: Since the days of Paschal Bafyau, Nigerians have had a huge trust deficit for so-called labour activists who sell their people at the drop of a hat. So, when on Thursday last week, officials of the NLC walked to the Aso Rock Villa, singing a mimed “three Gbosas” song like kindergarten children just given a pack of noodles, the people suspected that the ancient alimentary consideration had interfered with a laudable activism.
How did the wage construct of N650,000 that the NLC built suddenly collapse to N70,000? If the NLC knew it was heading towards that miserable sum in the face of the daunting existential crises that Nigerian workers face, why shoot up the people’s adrenaline this high? The truth is that the union’s sincerity exemplified by the likes of Michael Imoudu, Wahab Goodluck, Hassan Sunmonu and Ali Chiroma is gone forever. Who will take labour seriously any longer? The NLC wasted the time of Nigerians and took the people for granted.