Nigeria Labour Congress has accused the federal government of declaring

war against labour and interfering in internal affairs of trade union matters

following the recent raid on its headquarters by security forces.

At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, NLC leaders rejected the police

explanation for the invasion and demanded an apology, as well as the return

of seized items and the release of detained individuals and also criticized

government attempts to interfere with the organization’s internal affairs,

including a proposed reduction in the tenure of trade union leaders. They

argued that this violates labor laws and international conventions.

This is coming after the police had claimed that the raid on the headquarters

of the NLC was aimed at apprehending an international terrorist suspect, but

the NLC dismissed this as a cover-up, pointing out contradictions in the

police account, while, the NLC reiterated its demands for a stakeholders’

conference to address pressing national issues, including hunger, poverty,

and insecurity. They also advised the government to stop meddling in the

affairs of opposition parties and to focus on dialogue with honest Nigerians.

The organization warned that it would hold the police responsible for any

future incidents at its headquarters or against its leaders and members,

stressed that, the Registrar of Trade Unions acting on orders from above

wrote a letter of threat on our relationship with Labour Party, citing Section

15 sub-sections 2, 3, 4 of the Trade Unions Act, adding that, government is

also frantically working to reduce to two the number of years trade unionists

could hold office, which constitutes a gross interference in the internal

running of the trade unions in violation of the corpus of Labour Law and ILO

Conventions.