The Police have taken away the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, during the ongoing protest in Imo state, while Miscreants have descended on protesters, smashing vehicles and injuring labor members.
Already, the location of the NLC President is unknown, as he was taken away by heavily armed security personnel.
Recall that there were reports on Sunday in which the NLC stated that it would begin protests in Imo State on November 1 due to the State government's alleged violation and abuse of workers' rights and privileges.
Ajaero said that “NLC was deeply concerned about the persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers in Imo State by the State Government.”
“Despite our repeated efforts to engage in constructive dialogue and reach amicable agreements, the Imo State Government has become a habitual and serial breaker of these agreements, continuing to trample on the rights of workers in the state.“As a result, we are left with no choice but to embark on mass protests and industrial actions beginning on the 1st day of November, 2023.
“This is to demonstrate our outrage and stop the continuing violation of the rights and privileges of workers in the state."
The NLC president went on to say that the protest was necessary because the state government had refused to implement previous agreements.According to Ajaero, the government has repeatedly broken agreements, most notably the agreement reached between the government and organized labor on January 9th, 2021.
“On outstanding salary arrears, shockingly, some workers have been subjected to a staggering 20 months of unpaid salaries under the unfounded label of ‘ghost workers’.
“Unjust declaration of workers as ghost workers,. Approximately 11,000 hardworking individuals have been unjustly branded as ghost workers, their salaries diverted even while they diligently carried out their duties,” he said.
