By Michael Oche
Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has described as unacceptable the decision of the Federal government to deny workers the use of the iconic Eagle Square in Abuja for their annual workers’ day rally.
TUC President, Festus Osifo who addressed journalists on Friday night at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, said the report of the withdrawal of approval for use of the Eagle Square came as a shock because such has never happened before.
Our Correspondent reports that the Abuja Investment and Property Limited had written a letter to the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, informing them of the development.
Osifo said this action shows that the government is not prioritising issues that affect workers.
Eagle Square had been used for the Workers Day celebration since 1999, with the exception of the 2020 edition which was cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The Venue will also be used for the inauguration of Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29.
The TUC President said, “I wish to quickly say that as we were here in this meeting, we received a letter from the Abuja investment company. It is one of the agencies under the FCT ministry, the FCTA and they communicated to us that the Eagles way will not be available for our May Day parade on Monday, but it is sufficed to note that May 29 has been holding there since 1999.
“We have always had a way of carrying out our parade before they could go ahead with their preparations for the hand-over. May 1st is four weeks away from hand over, but our government is telling us that political considerations are much more important issues of workers. You will see the kind of country that we are. That the people who are behind those GDP number, the people that toll day and night to ensure that Nigeria as a country is not a failed state as predicted by so many international agencies, are being relegated to the background.
“We wish to inform them that we reject this completely. They’ve asked us to go to the old parade ground, we are not going. If they are not affording us the place that we have been using for this event, then they should go away with it. At the appropriate time, we will answer them. This is not right. This is not correct. The issues of workers should be prioritised, four weeks is sufficient for them to do whatsoever preparation that is required for the presidential inauguration.”
Osifo also reiterated the TUC’s opposition to the planned privatisation of federal medical centres across the country.
He said, “again, we wish to also reiterate, you know as a follow-up to our last NEC meeting, that it is a no no no to the privatisation of the federal medical centres. That for us, it is not something that we will tolerate. Because most of the privatisations that have taken place in our dear country have been an exercise where friends of those governments were rewarded. So for us, we say no, no no to such privatisation. In a similar breath, we also say no, no to the privatisation of the transmission Company of Nigeria.”