In about 160 countries worldwide, May 1 is earmarked as International Workers’ Day. Thus, last Thursday, Nigerian Workers celebrated their day with fanfare at Eagle Square in Abuja and across all the state capitals. It was also observed as a public holiday. Labour Unions, namely the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, also reel out a 20-point demand from the government. Before going on to analyse these demands, who really are the workers? They are wealth creators. There are different categories of workers. There are public cum civil servants who form government bureaucracy and there are also the organised private sector workers. Some also work in the informal sectors, such as artisans, petty traders and labourers. Anyone who engages in any form of labour to earn income is a worker.

The high rate of unemployment in Nigeria has pushed most people to be self-employed. Some are underemployed. The irony is that workers hardly receive their real worth in wages and salaries. They are mostly shortchanged. One of the sordid realities of many Nigerian workers is casualisation. Many factories, financial institutions, such as banks and insurance companies, electricity distribution companies, telecommunication companies as well as oil and gas companies, are now outsourcing their staff recruitment to agencies rather than via direct employment. The recruited staff are unfortunately not given full employment with proper remuneration but are recruited as casual staff without job security and any perks, such as housing, transport and meals allowance. No leave bonus and no retirement benefits. Instead of running an eight-hour shift, some factory workers run 12-hour shifts. This means that, unlike what the Nigerian and global labour practices stated that a worker should work for eight hours daily, this category of workers works for 12 straight hours without getting paid overtime. This is pure slave labour!

For those who are gainfully employed and earn the minimum wage with all the perks, unfortunately, inflation and devaluation of the currency have made a mincemeat of their income. For instance, a worker earning the basic N70,000 minimum wage cannot live a decent life because of the astronomical cost of living. As a result of the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023, the increase in electricity tariff, the increase in the cost of telecommunication tariff, and the devaluation of the naira by 40 per cent, the costs of goods and services have skyrocketed. In my neck of the woods here in Abuja, my rent has just been increased by 120 per cent. Petrol sells for over N900 per litre and this has led to a spike in transport costs; cooking gas is over N1,500 per kilogramme. Need I say that school fees have also been upwardly reviewed? How will a worker, on national minimum wage, be able to afford essential commodities for himself and his family?

Ironically, some state governments have not started paying the new national minimum wage of N70,000, signed into law in July 2024. These state governments’ alibi is that they are not elected as governors only to pay wages, as only a fraction of the citizens of their states are government workers. Meanwhile, the old minimum wage of N30,000 is peanuts in value terms, given the current inflationary trend and purchasing power parity of the naira. It is the lackadaisical attitude of the government to the workers’ plight that is responsible for truancy, indolence and corruption in the public service.

Aside from remuneration issues, there is also the challenge of an unconducive work environment. In some government offices, as many as six to eight staff members share a small office. The office is sometimes not well ventilated. There are either no fans or air conditioners. Where there are, there is often no light to power them, or they have become faulty and unserviceable. Toilet facilities in many offices, both public and private enterprises, are an eyesore. There is often no water to flush the toilet when used. Sometimes the water closet has become faulty, and water, where available, floods the restroom. Elevators meant to serve multistory offices sometimes break down for months without repair, thereby forcing staff and visitors to climb the staircase. God help you if you have arthritis or you’re someone in a wheelchair or using crutches. Insecurity plaguing the country is also negatively impacting workers’ productivity.

The plight of senior citizens is worse than those still in service. They sometimes don’t receive their pension and gratuity as and when due. Meanwhile, the pension, which is a fraction of their salaries, is so paltry that it cannot feed them, let alone enable them to live a decent life in retirement. This is partly why many people falsify their age to avoid early retirement.

The aforementioned are part of the reasons for the labour unions’ 20-point demand during this year’s workers’ day celebration. The PUNCH of May 2, 2025 (online edition) reported that among other things, the NLC and TUC asked for tax cuts, better retirement package, reversal of the emergency declaration in Rivers State, salary adjustment, withdrawal of the tax bills, reduction of telecommunication tariffs from 50 per cent to 35 per cent and upward review of retirement age to 65 for all categories of civil servants. The National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, presented the demands during the event in Abuja. Making a case for better treatment for Nigerian workers, the NLC leader said, “It is imperative to extend the revised retirement age of 65 years or 40 years of service currently enjoyed by teachers, health professionals, and judges to all public servants.”

Reading a speech he jointly signed with his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo, the NLC leader expressed frustration with the continued prioritisation of corporate profits over the survival of the ordinary Nigerian, calling for reforms that would shift focus toward the people. Essential services, such as energy, infrastructure, and public utilities, he emphasised, must be oriented toward serving the public interest rather than private gains. On matters of governance, he demanded democratic accountability, transparency, and urgent electoral reforms.

The labour bodies condemned what they described as a sustained suppression of civic space and dissent, calling on federal and state governments to stop actions that erode citizens’ rights and instead work to strengthen democratic norms. They also called for an immediate end to the widespread killings and bloodshed across the country, labelling the violence as genocidal and intolerable.

All the aforementioned are some of the demands of the labour unions, which I fully endorse. However, I should add that workers, too, must shun all corrupt practices. There is no gainsaying that some of the civil servants are corrupt. For instance, the N80bn allegedly found in the personal account of a sacked managing director of one of our ailing refineries. This was the lead story in the Saturday PUNCH of May 3, 2025. If this gargantuan sum is established as the proceeds of crime, imagine what these huge sums could do for our infrastructural development. Thus, workers must learn to live above board and work for the betterment of the country. It is also important for the workers to be well-resourced in terms of office spaces and equipment. They should also be trained and retrained, and have their capacity built in the use of technological innovations that will aid performance of their tasks.