How Saraki, Dogara, Ngige, others were chased out of Abuja rally on May Day

May Day rally at the Eagle Square, Abuja, yesterday, ended in fiasco as workers took on government officials over its failure to actualise a new minimum wage package.

What initially started as taunt of President Muhammadu’s Buhari who was represented by Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige later snowballed into near anarchy as the enraged workers upturned chairs and tables, over-ran the podium and took on a detachment of security agents sent to keep the peace.

Attempt by former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole to intervene also hit a brickwall as the workers, who said they could no longer be deceived by either present or former labour leaders while they wallow in poverty, drowned out the former leader’s voice.

The rally started around 11am after officials of government, including the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Ngige had arrived.

But the workers, determined to make a valid statement of their dissatisfaction with the Buhari government over the issue of minimum wage, welfare and general poor condition of Nigerians, went wild when it was the turn of the minister to deliver his address.

The workers trooped out to the podium shouting “No! No!! No!!!”

All efforts to pacify them by the labour leaders failed as the workers finally took over the podium. The security team drafted to the venue had to call for reinforcement when it could not calm down the protesting workers.

The faceoff persisted till exactly 1.30pm, when an anti-riot Police van blaring siren drove into the rally ground. The arrival of the fierce-looking anti-riot police, however incensed the workers further. Rather than retreat, they swooped on the police vehicle and dared the officers to crush them.

“How many will you kill? You can start killing us. This is intimidation at the highest level. We are ready to be killed, you can continue,” the workers chanted.

As a result of the tensed atmosphere, all the invited dignitaries and government officials including Saraki, Dogara, Ngige and representative of FCT minister, had to be spirited out of the Eagle square through the back door.

At the time the march past ritual commenced, more than 90 per cent of the workers too had also left the rally ground.

NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba presented his address to a virtually empty venue, said the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government has squandered the enormous goodwill it had from inception and urged it to put its house in order.

He noted that the Executive-Legislature face-off has held the country down for too long, especially as  it has delayed passage of the 2017 budget.

“Never in our recent history has a government gained so much goodwill and acceptance by the citizenry in the face of excruciating economic crisis.  This seeming benevolence of the people has failed to propel the government to move faster in governance and implementing some of its policies. This unfortunate state of affairs has been partly attributed to the acrimonious relationship between the Executive and the National Assembly, especially the Senate,” he stated.

On the minimum wage, Wabba said government must put a timeline on the implementation.

In his address, President, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Mr. Bobboi Kiagama tasked government to ensure that workers being owed salaries in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were paid without further delay to stave off industrial crisis.

By 3pm when the workers had virtually vacated the Eagle Square, vehicular traffic was still diverted from the Federal Secretariat precinct of Shehu Shagari Way as police vans blocked the Bayelsa House and Bullet House ends of the road.

The workers’ grouse was the continued absence of the president at May Day celebrations since assuming office, especially his government’s refusal to increase the national minimum wage, as promised last year.

Some of the workers interviewed bemoaned their suffering, which they said had become unbearable. They said they left the ground dejected last year when the Buhari government failed to announce a new minimum wage package.

However, when Ngige spoke with the media briefly before leaving the venue, he blamed the crisis on the infiltration of the rally by non-workers and factionalisation in the labour movement.

He said the Federal Government would pay backlog of promotion and all allowances, while also expressing President Buhari’s commitment to the issue of national minimum wage.

Meanwhile, Speaker Dogara  said increasing workers’ salary had become necessary in view of the rising cost of living in the country.

In a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, Dogara said the House was committed to passing a new minimum wage bill.

He enjoined workers, especially civil servants to rededicate themselves to duty and support government’s policies and programmes.

However, the organised Labour under the umbrella of the United Labour Congress (ULC) has described government’s claim that Nigeria was out of recession as mere propaganda.

It said said Nigeria could only be considered out of recession when prices of good and services were affordable by Nigerians.

Joe Ajaero who spoke as ULC marked its first May Day at the National Stadium in Lagos, said the centre chose the theme: “Trade union in a recessionary economy”, to highlight the level of sufferings of Nigerian workers who have been reduced to paupers due to inflation.

He said out of recession cry remains a fable until Nigerian workers were able to send their children to good schools, afford food on their table and earn good living wages.

He called on the Federal Government to stop further privatisation, and commence building of domestic industrial capacity and turning around the nation’s local refineries amongst others.

Ajaero stressed that workers should rise to fight for their rights rather than lamenting.

In his message, President of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Igwe Achese said the drop in oil price made the multinationals and contractors to embark on endless redundancies, saying about 3,000 oil workers have lost their jobs because of the oil glut.

“The challenges facing us are many and NUPENG is disappointed that up till now the Petroleum Industry Bill still has not been passed despite passing third reading in the National Assembly.

“We join other stakeholders to call on the National Assembly to pass PIB bill into law. We are worried about the epileptic operations in the nation’s four refineries which has necessitated in the massive importation of petroleum products, thus  putting pressure on the foreign exchange. It is time for total turn around maintenance “, he said.

State Chairman of ULC, Comrade Tokunbo Korodo equally expressed worry at the rate companies and industries were closing shop due primarily to the implementation of some policies of government.

He said the only possible way for the nation to get out of recession was for government to begin to put up people oriented policies that will arrest massive poverty in the land.