The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s two-year anniversary in office, stating that Nigerian workers and the general public have seen no benefits—only pain and hardship.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in an appraisal of the administration’s first two years, stated that there has been nothing to celebrate since the government came into power.
“When President Bola Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023, he promised a new dawn, bold economic reforms that would rescue Nigeria from fiscal instability and set it on a path to prosperity.
But two years later, the only thing bolder than his rhetoric is the magnitude of suffering and hardship his policies have inflicted on workers and ordinary Nigerians. Far from renewing hope, his administration has recycled the same failed neoliberal experiments of the past, proving once again that you cannot cure a patient by prescribing the poison that made them sick in the first place,” Ajaero said.
According to him, the sudden removal of the petrol subsidy sent shockwaves through an already fragile economy, causing fuel prices to skyrocket from N187 to over N600 per litre overnight.
The NLC boss said instead of reinvestment, Nigerians got inflation so vicious that families now skip meals, businesses shut down daily, and transport costs consume what little remains of workers’ wages.
He added that the naira, left to the so-called ‘market forces,’ has collapsed in value, turning Nigeria into a bargain basement for neighbouring countries, while local industries suffocate under the weight of imported inflation.
“What makes this pain even more frustrating is that none of it is new. We have seen this script before, subsidy removals, devaluations, and IMF-approved austerity, each time sold as the bitter pill Nigeria must swallow for a brighter future. But when has it ever worked? These same policies under past administrations only widened inequality, enriched a few, and left the majority poorer. Tinubu’s version is no different, except the suffering is deeper, the anger louder, and the government’s response more brutal.
“Nigerian workers have seen their real wages obliterated. Pensioners, SMEs (facing over 150 per cent inflation in inputs), and 150 million Nigerians are now multidimensionally poor. It has been two years of intimidation and harassment for labour leaders and trade unions in Nigeria. Flagrant disregard for court orders and the criminalisation of union protests and actions have become the norm. Wage award arrears at the federal level remain unpaid, despite repeated promises.
“The only notable effort is the provision of compressed natural gas, CNG, buses by the Federal Government to ease transportation for Nigerian workers, but this remains grossly inadequate, hampered by severe gas infrastructure deficits,” he added.
