Nigerian workers draw a line in the sand

A general strike in Nigeria shook the capitalist elite to the bone when it paralyzed society in November. The strike, which lasted from Nov. 14-15, was provoked by a brutal state-sponsored assault on Joe Ajaero, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, the West African country’s largest trade union federation.

Prior to then, the trade unions had dilly-dallied on the best way to respond to the neo-liberal economic onslaught of the President Tinubu government. His action of removing subsidy on petroleum products in May last year sent the economy reeling, with inflation increasing by 10 percent and the price of gas nearly quadrupling.

A general strike was initially called for June 7, to reject the policy of subsidy removal. However, the plans were shelved at the last minute to allow for negotiations to help workers and the poor survive the policy’s consequences. But even these negotiations stalled due to the government’s insincerity.

By October, anger was beginning to rise again among rank and file workers at the perceived impotence and hesitation of the trade union leadership to utilize the strike weapon effectively. Between June and September, the NLC and its partner trade union federation, the Trade Union Congress, or TUC, had called three general strikes, two of which were shelved at the last minute, while the September 2-day warning strike barely succeeded. A national protest on Aug. 2 was poorly mobilized with actions taking place in only a few states.

This was the state of affairs before November. Everything however began to change when Ajaero was brutally assaulted on Nov. 1 while he was leading a local strike of workers at Owerri in Imo State in the southeast of Nigeria. The strike was organized in response to the persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers by the state government, including withholding back pay and not paying the minimum wage.

Ajaero was beaten to a pulp by a team of local thugs and policemen who then whisked him away to an unknown destination leading to frantic calls for his whereabouts by the union secretariat. A number of workers and journalists were also reportedly assaulted by the thugs. As pictures and videos of Ajaero’s maltreatment surfaced on social media, some mocked the trade union leader saying the assault served him right for not leading a bold fightback at anti-poor economic policies. Others, especially trade union activists and workers, fumed at the temerity of the Nigeria’s ruling class to assault the leader of one of the largest trade union movement on the continent.

A week after the incident, a total strike began across Imo state which escalated into “an indefinite nationwide strike” on Nov. 14, to demand the investigation, arrest, prosecution and dismissal of government and police officials involved in the attack on Ajaero. “Aside from the government failure to implement our agreement, we are asking the government to bring the perpetrators of the assault on NLC president to justice” TUC President Festus Osifo said while declaring the strike.

Better to break the law than break the poor

Four days before the general strike was meant to begin, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which adjudicates on labor and industrial disputes, issued an order restraining the trade unions from embarking on the strike. The interim order followed a request by the Nigerian government.

A similar order had been obtained earlier in the year by the federal government from the National Industrial Court, which is often heavily criticized for acting more as a government lapdog than an independent arbiter, to compel the NLC to shelve the June 6 general strike. This time around however, the trade unions decided to proceed with the strike regardless of the order. By 4 p.m. on Nov. 13, a circular emanated from the NLC and TUC national secretariats informing workers to down their tools beginning at midnight on Nov. 14.

Defending their decision, Emmanuel Ugboaja, general secretary of the NLC, argued the union was not in contempt of court. “We went ahead as planned as nobody served us with any court order and we would not be liable to any contempt of court,” he said. This clever approach helped the trade unions to defy the unjust order without provoking a legal consequence. The move also helped to build the overall confidence of the movement.

Mixed outcomes

Although the indefinite nationwide strike lasted for only about 48 hours, it had a major impact. The airports, seaports, government offices, banks, schools and hospitals shut down, while the entire country was thrown into darkness as electricity workers withdrew their services. On Tuesday, the four gates leading into and out of the National Assembly complex were locked, leaving visitors to the complex stranded. Activities were crippled also at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company in Abuja. Members of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria shut down the Tin-Can Island Port and Apapa Port in Lagos, in compliance with the nationwide strike. Freight forwarders and clearing agents who had arrived at the ports ready clear their goods were asked to go home. Government activities were paralyzed across the six area councils of Abuja, the country’s capital. Also, the general hospital in the area was deserted as doctors, nurses as well as other staff of the facility stayed away from work.

This was in spite of the late notification of the strike action due to the court order. Activists who had gotten used to the trade unions’ established pattern of shelving strikes at the last minute did not begin mobilizing until the circular was shared.

This had a certain effect on the strike success on the first day. “Many workers only heard about the strike after they had got to work the next morning” noted Toba Odumosu, the secretary of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives in Lagos State. As a result, the strike only had partial compliance on the first day.

However, by the second day, a near total shutdown of the economy had been achieved. Odumosu and several other trade union leaders interviewed spoke about how workers and activists trooped out to picket workplaces in order to ensure offices and factories were shut while the strike lasted. For instance, as early as 9 a.m., the streets were filled by school children sent home from school after teachers failed to show up at work.

Changed strategy

 “I think one of the reasons for the strike’s success was the fact that for Nigerian workers, the assault became the last straw,” Odumosu observed. This was corroborated by the NLC assistant general secretary in charge of NLC president’s office, Onyeka Christopher Chukwudi. “The fact is that when you look at that strike, it was a crystallization of a groundswell of anger, a feeling that if you touch one of us, especially our leader, you have touched all of us,” he said. Many workers, he added, also realized that “if we don’t do anything now, the entire movement is imperiled.”

But what really helped the strike to succeed was a change in the strategy of the trade union movement. Prior to November 2023, there was a lot of bickering between the NLC and TUC, the two main trade union federations in the country. This was partly a product of the rivalry that exist between them, given that they organize different layers of the working class. But with the assault, the two labor federations immediately closed ranks. This was achieved when the NLC — seeing that Ajaero could no longer play an active role because of his hospitalization following the assault — ceded leadership of the strike to the TUC president, Festus Osifo. This brilliant move helped to cement the unity of the two powerful federations, which helped to make the strike strong and formidable.

“We also engaged in serious mobilization,” Chukwudi added. “We put in ample time to get ourselves together before we declared the strike. Also we ensured that people were sensitized about the aim of the struggle. We also ensured that the state chapters of the NLC and TUC were united and worked together instead of the past when mobilization was simply left to the affiliate unions.”

The NLC and TUC leadership also mounted an effective communication strategy. They successfully responded to and shattered the state-sponsored propaganda launched by the government, which tried to paint the strike as an “ego-tripping” action. This was achieved by a social media group which was created weeks before the strike took off. In fact, what the November strike shows is how social media has become an invaluable tool for union organizing in combination with other methods. Abiodun Bakare, the state secretary in Lagos State of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees talked about how his union combined pickets and constant communications through the union’s social media platforms like WhatsApp to circulate information and mobilize for the strike.

“A memo emanated from my office informing all our union members in Lagos State to stay at home in compliance with the national directive. I also joined others to visit some of our branches to ensure total compliance,” he said.

For a senior staff member of Federal Aviation, Aluko Bolakale, the strike “was considerably successful.” Bolakale is also the vice chairman of the chapter of the Air Transport Senior Staff Association of Nigeria at Muritala Muhammed Airport, the largest airport in the country. His unit proceeded to ensure the implementation of the strike at the airport. “We were able to prevent the headquarters staff, including the management, from accessing their offices for administrative business.” This was achieved by a team of trade union activists, who ensured no one could gain entry.

What next?

At the end of the second day of the strike, the government buckled and agreed to meet some of the strikers’ demands. At an emergency meeting with the country’s national security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, an apology was tendered on behalf of the government to the trade unions with a promise to investigate the assault. Also the police immediately swung into action and arrested some of the perpetrators with a promise to fish out others and make sure they are prosecuted.

While many Nigerians suffering economic hardship would have been happier if the strike had also been used to press for action on other issues, like the rising cost of living and unemployment, the modest success of the strike cannot be ignored. The way the government panicked and quickly came to an agreement with the trade unions has helped to shift the balance of forces, at least in the meantime, in favor of workers. This will have effects on industrial relations, especially as negotiations for a new national minimum wage happen this year.

Many activists and trade unionists however continue to believe that more can be won if the trade unions fight harder and boldly going forward. “I think there is need for labor to move away from its traditional way of operation, which is the advancement and protection of the interests of its members, and continue to involve in bigger issues that affect the masses,” Bakare argued.