By Ken Afor
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has debunked a report on social media claiming that the participation of its President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, at the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai was a gift from the federal government.
In a statement on Thursday by Comrade Benson Upah, Head of Information and Public Affairs, the NLC vehemently denied the claim saying on no account was its President sponsored by the government.
The report claimed that Ajaero’s participation at COP28 was compensation from the government after the November 1 incident in Owerri, Imo State capital, where he was brutalised.
Reacting to the report, Comrade Upah said Ajaero’s trip to Dubai which was fully taken care of by the NLC was as part of NLC’s commitment to defending workers’ interest with regards to the impact of climate change on the livelihood of workers, especially with regards to the Just Transition.
The statement read: “A falsely contrived media innuendo circulated in the social media has been brought to the attention of the Nigeria Labour Congress. The badly cooked media propaganda tried to present the participation of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero at the Conference of the Parties in Dubai as a gift from the government.
“The yellow light report dubbed the trip by the NLC President as compensation after he survived a barbaric assault in the hands of agents of the state in Imo State.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth. The Nigeria Labour Congress is participating in the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) holding in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as part of NLC’s commitment to defending workers’ interest with regards to the impact of climate change on the livelihood of workers, especially with regards to the Just Transition.
“The President’s trip and that of the NLC Focal Person on Climate Change, Comrade Eche Asuzu, was fully paid for by the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress being a leading advocate for Just Transition for workers organised a side event in Dubai which allowed us to connect to the global working class movement fully represented in COP 28.
“The side event was also an opportunity to present a Research work undertaken by the NLC Climate Change Program on Just Transition which covers Nigeria’s seven priority sectors.
“The President of the Congress was a discussant on the first Panel of the side event where he made a strong demand for workers to be mainstreamed in the global discourse for climate change.
“At the side event, the NLC President also called for the re-training, upskilling and re-skilling of workers to prepare them for the transition from fossil fuel economy to green energy pathways. He also called for adequate social protection measures for workers who may not be able to transit.
“It is unfortunate that a laudable effort by the Nigeria Labour Congress to defend and promote the interest of workers with regards to climate change was turned into a media propaganda by those who are bent on using the slightest opportunity to feed their determined and sustained campaign of calumny against the working people of Nigeria.
“The mischievous media report also portrayed the crass ignorance of the sponsors who obviously are the only Nigerians who do not know that the Nigeria Labour Congress is a respectable self funding institution.
“The cowardly enemies of the working people of Nigeria also failed to do their basic home work. If they did, they would have found out that the NLC has also been participating in the Conference of the Parties since 2009.
“While we call on Nigerians, especially workers, to disregard the report as another effort to portray the struggle for social justice including decent work and just transition in bad light, the leadership of the NLC under Comrade Joe Ajaero remains committed to using every reasonable opportunity to advance the cause of the working people of Nigeria.”
It would be recalled that on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Ajaero was reportedly brutalised at the NLC Secretariat in Imo State during a protest against alleged unfair treatment of workers in the state.
Subsequently, Ajaero was picked up by operatives of the state police command to an unknown destination where he was brutalised by thugs allegedly sponsored by the state government.
The inhumane treatment of Ajaero prompted the NLC and its affiliate unions to issue a nationwide strike following the government’s failure to arrest those involved in the brutalisation of the NLC President.
However, the strike was averted after the intervention of the National Security Adviser – Nuhu Ribadu.
