The Labour Party (LP) has urged Nigerian workers to join the party in its struggle against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election, saying “all hope is not lost”.
The Labour Party, while thanking the workers for supporting the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, during the just-concluded poll, assured them that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
The LP noted that the citizens need a “Labour Government” that will work for the workers, the poor, and the vast majority of the people, urging the workers to work hard and fight for a government that would heave a sigh of relief from their suffering, poor working conditions, and other situation they found themselves currently.
It said this via a statement issued on Monday, May 1, in commemoration of the 2023 Workers’ Day.
The Labour Party, in the statement issued by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, appreciated the Nigerian workers for supporting Obi to win the 2023 presidential election “even though the mandate was stolen”.
Ifoh noted that the 2023 general election would have been the turning point for Nigerian workers but their hope was dashed by the “forces of darkness”.
He said: “Today as we speak, the minimum wage for workers cannot take workers home. N30,000 minimum wage is an insult to the workers. It can’t take workers home, a bag of rice as we speak today is N40,000 and minimum wage is N30,000.
“Today, the people have no welfare, no means of livelihood, no employment, the people are hungry, poverty is ravaging the mind, and out of a country of 230 million people, over 130 million people are either poor or in abject poverty.
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“No doubt, this suffering by the people is leadership inflicted as we have continued to emphasize. We have all the natural and human resources to be a great country but the serial leadership failure over the years is the reason why we are where we are today.
“This 2023 general election would have been the turning point in the history of Nigerian workers but for the forces of darkness that have severally put in abeyance that dreams of Nigeria and the people, Nigerians are still being frustrated.
“So we assure the workers that all hope is not lost. We will continue to struggle knowing that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. We believe very strongly that very shortly, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
“We have had enough of protests and strikes in Nigeria. Workers must work hard and fight for a Labour government because it is only when we have a Labour Party government that workers will heave a sigh of relief from their suffering, poor wages, poor working conditions and from the situation they found themselves currently.
“Therefore all workers must be united with Labour Party to struggle for this mandate that has been stolen from us and to ensure the sustenance of concentrated engagement until a Labour Government is engaged,” Ifoh stated.
Speaking on the solution to the challenges bewildering workers in the country, the LP spokesman, said: “What Nigerians need presently is a Labour Government that will work for the workers, the poor, the downtrodden and for the vast majority of the people. It is only then that the workers can heave a sigh of relief.
“That is the situation in countries like Brazil, Australia amongst others that have been able to enthrone workers government. In these countries, workers are no longer protesting on the streets because they sit on the table with their employers and negotiate wages, working conditions, and workers’ welfare.
“In fact, in those countries, it is taken for granted that welfare of the citizens is paramount. So, not until we get there, Nigerian workers cannot say it is Uhuru.
“Labour Party is therefore using this opportunity to once more congratulate the workers for the May Day celebration and to reassure them that for us in Labour Party, we will not rest on our oars until we recover our stolen mandate and reposition the country for greatness and effective service delivery,” Ifoh stressed.
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