Why road transporters won’t join NLC planned strike – NURTW

The National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) under the leadership of Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede has said road transport operators are not likely to join a nationwide strike action called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, on Friday threatened that the workers would “commence a two-day nationwide warning strike on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 5th and 6th of September, 2023” to protect the impact of removal of fuel subsidy on the masses.

The NLC had said the action was in preparation for an indefinite industrial action later in the month and to demand that state should vacate the occupation of the NURTW national headquarters, Abuja.

But reacting to the communiqué on Saturday, Agbede regretted that “from the contents of the communiqué, it clearly showed that Comrade Ajaero and his team have lost touch with present reality in the country today or are being blindfolded by political/ ethnic considerations, as this is not a perfect time for any reasonable group or person to be nursing the idea of calling out workers on strike when majority of our people are struggling to survive.

He also said the NLC should desist from making inflammatory statements capable of heating up the polity.

The NURTW leader stated this while reacting to a communiqué issued by the NLC at the end of its National Executive Council( NEC) meeting in Abuja.

Agbede’s statement read in part, “I want Comrade Ajaero to realise that the duty of the NLC is more than just dishing out strike threats all the time. I would advise him to start taking lessons from his predecessors (Comrades Ayuba Wabba, Adams Oshiomhole, etc) on how to run a proper trade union organization.

“The present administration of President Bola Tinubu is barely three months in office and Ajaero had threatened to go on strike on five different occasions. Haba! Our people in Southwest have started to read ethnic/political meanings to the NLC positions on Tinubu administration.

“Concerning our union, NURTW, we are seriously worried and disturbed by the later-day interest the NLC is showing in the affairs of our union lately. The crisis we are facing today would not have aggravated to this level if the NLC had given it the necessary attention ab initio.

“It is on record that aggrieved members and major stakeholders in our union wrote series of letters to the NLC to complain about the atrocities and highhandedness of Baruwa-led executive, but NLC did not react or act on those letters. Our members were ignored.

“If the NLC had given the letters the required attention at the initial stage, the crisis might have been nipped in the bud, but the NLC failed to respond/act because the complainers are poor members who have nothing to offer the NLC. A pure case of ‘No money, no justice’.

“For the police, I would like to commend men of the Nigeria Police for their proactive position in the union matter. The police have been very professional in their approach, conduct and utterances since NURTW crisis began.”

Agbede appealed to Nigerians and the police to disregard the NLC threats, stating that the NLC was only backing Baruwa to justify the alleged huge inducement they benefitted from him

He said, “And to Baruwa, we would like to advise him to stop wasting his money and resources on a failed project, as majority of our people have decided to move on with the Agbede-led NURTW. And of course, our members made a bold statement on Thursday at our first CWC meeting in Abuja where 80% of state councils and five out of the six zonal councils were in attendance.”