National

History was made today, 9th January 2012, as Lagosians in their thousands harkened to the call of the Labour and Civil Society Organisation (LASCO) to embark on a nationwide strike/mass protest toexpress their dissatisfaction with the recent increment in the pump price of petrol as announced by the Goodluck Jonathan-led government on 1st of January. LASCO encompasses the two labour centers in Nigeria i.e. the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as the Joint Action Front (JAF) which is the umbrella body of the pro-labour civil society organisations.

We condemn the Goodluck regime’s sponsored invasion of the National Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, in Abuja by thugs and the police on Friday, 7/1/12. This confirms the desperation of the government and shows how low they can go towards maintaining the attacks on the lives of the Nigerian people and how desperate they are to maintain the current fuel price increment. Already this action is being condemned globally.

The thugs stormed the NLC office in the morning under the protection of soldiers and police officers.

Support the Struggle against the Under funding of Education

By the time the current strike of Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, commenced on December 5 2011, it had been two long years after they had an agreement with the Federal Government. That was in 2009. The 2009 Agreement is actually a review of the 2001 Agreement.

Earlier in September, ASUU had embarked on a one-week warning strike and the union shifted lots of grounds by extending the period for dialogue with the hope that the federal government would be sincere.

Currently, major attacks have been launched by the Goodluck regime against PHCN workers. Soldiers have taken over all the power stations, transmission stations and major PHCN offices nationwide and leaders of the power sector unions were arrested for some days and are all on the watch list. The plan is to ‘wind down’ PHCN by the first quarter of 2012.

PHCN workers had embarked on a 2-day strike to protest these assaults, it was this that forced the government to release the union officers but the armed take over and other atrocities are still continuing.

No to deregulation!

Nothing can testify to man’s bestiality towards fellow man as the current attempt by the Goodluck Jonathan’s regime attempt to further increase the price of petrol. Nothing is as wicked as this program and it has fully exposed the true face of the regime to the overwhelming majority.

Coming at a time when the overwhelming majority are living in abject poverty with no hope in sight, large numbers are living on less than $2.00 a day. This will no doubt be a death blow to many in Nigeria.

Since the LASU authorities declared in October the draconian increment in school fees, LASU students have embarked on a heroic struggle against this grand assault on education. They have not only boycotted lectures they have embarked on exam boycott and mass protests.

The over 725% fee increment was authorized by the Fasola led ACN government in Lagos. The fees were quite outrageous to say the least and it exposed the true nature of the ACN for what it really is – an anti-people party making pretension to be ‘progressive’.

Obviously, there was an earlier agreement between a dominant section of Nigeria ruling class, Nigeria media and the Imperialists, that no matter what the actual outcome of this election is, it must be adjudged the fairest and freest election in the history of Nigeria. This agreement was strictly adhered to by all the parties concerned. Public opinion is moulded along this line, even where malpractices were very obvious, the media and International communities just looked the other way.

Nigerian workers joined their brothers and sisters throughout the world to celebrate Workers’ Day on May 1st. In Lagos State, the celebration was held at Onikan Stadium. Workers trooped into the stadium en masse to mark the day. However, they had a surprise coming, with the newly elected State Governor giving them a lecture about how increases in workers’ wages cause inflation!

The political drama that unfolded with the April 2011 general elections turned out to be all revealing about the real nature and the deceit of the various sections of the Nigerian ruling class; and more obvious was the lack of genuine political alternative to the present rot in society, which a number of critical voters unconsciously sought during the elections.

In truth, the elections were mainly contested by the different sections of the ruling capitalist class in Nigeria, which have their individual pecuniary interests but who nevertheless, in the last analysis, are all committed to maintaining the present status quo that tilts property relations against the mass of workers and ordinary Nigerians.

The Nigeria Capital City of Abuja has probably never witnessed a traffic jam the magnitude of which occurred on the 15th of October 2010. At the Federal Secretariat Complex and the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, most of the offices remained empty as most civil servants have returned to their homes because of the mammoth congestion.

2011 is here and the Political Parties are warming up for the forthcoming election. But unfortunately, Labour Party which ordinarily was supposed to be the political platform of the working class and the other poor masses in society, due to its enormous potential and strength, might after all not be able to effectively stand as a credible alternative to challenge other political parties, due to its present weak position. In 2007, the party won 1 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives, without any seat in the senate and just one governor out of 36.

On Thursday, 3 February 2011, workers of Sadhwanis Nigeria Limited embarked on a struggle against the exploitative and inhuman management of the company. The plastic factory is located at Apakun Industrial Estate, Ajao Estate, Lagos.

‘No Choice Options’ for the toiling masses

The chain of violence recorded across the country in the last days of the past year and weeks into the New Year is indicative of what the year holds for the country.

Nigeria ruling class continues to lose its social base. Rather than this process being reversed, it is accelerating. The main social base upon which this present bourgeois democratic experiment bases itself has almost completely eroded. The ruling class finds itself more and more isolated from the ever-increasing number of Nigerian masses. More and more Nigerians are joining en-masse, the rank of those vanguards of the masses that are correctly

ASUU Southeast Still on Strike

On July 22, 2010, the southeast chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) commenced an indefinite strike action as directed by its National Executive Committee (NEC). It is disheartening to note that almost three months later, this strike is yet to be called off; the crux of the matter is yet to be addressed. These Southeast States’ citadels of learning remained shut down due to the hard-line stance of the state governments and their refusal to meet the demands of the striking lecturers.

The Lagos doctors strike action has lingered through the months of September-October 2010 and has expectedly led to a functionless and dangerous situation in all the government-owned hospitals in the state. The doctors had embarked on the strike action after the Governor Raji Fashola-led government failed to accede to their demands for an improved welfare package via the implementation of the new national CONMESS salary award for doctors, review of the highly excessive income tax – the hallmark of the present Lagos government, and the reinstatement of the former chairman of the Medical Guild, who was sacked last year for agitating for the rights of doctors for better deal. Published below is an extract from a contribution of one of the striking doctors, Dr Olayinka M.A, featured in THISDAY newspapers, Friday 8/10/2010 edition.

Nigeria as a nation is presently at a cross road with virtually all sectors of her economy at the brink of collapse. Education is in shamble, it was estimated that over 10 million Nigerian children are presently out of school, Nigerian Universities, which was among the best in Africa in the 60s, is presently ranked among the least. Over 40 million Nigerians are unemployed, over 70% Nigerians are living below poverty line. Power generation is still less than 3000 MW despite the fact that the installed generating capacity is 6000 MW because most facilities are poorly maintained. This situation has led to epileptic power supply in the country and without steady power supply obviously, there can never be any meaningful economic growth.

No doubt, Fashola government in Lagos state means different things to different people. To the elite, who wishes to drive his car without hindrance through a well flowered road, a road that is devoid of poor children hawking the streets, with beggars completely packed off the visible arena of passage; to him, Fashola is a hero. To a poor woman who had lived all her life selling in one corner of the road, a condition force down her throat by immense poverty, with her children hawking all over Lagos at the risk of being arrested by the police. These children suppose to be in school, but public education has completely collapsed. When she is ill she has to go to native doctor because public health is dead; a small apartment she stays will either soon be pulled down or is already demolished in the interest of Mega city project; to her, Lagos has never been so hellish as it is now. Of the estimated 18 million Lagosians, 11.55 million (64.2%) are living below poverty level, under genuine democracy who really own Lagos?

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) recently set up a Commission to investigate the extent of workers’ participation in and desire for the Labour Party. In spite of the Labour leadership’s claims that Nigerian workers do not desire a party of their own, the report of the investigation revealed the contrary.