The Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists,
NUJ has announced a boycott of this year's Workers' Day march . This was made known by the council’s Chairman, Comrade Gbenga Opadotun on Tuesday.
The event was the “NUJ Workers’ Day Round Table” with the
topic “The Plight of Nigerian Workers in a Dwindling Economy”. The Chairman pointed
out that ‘’save for those in two or three media houses, journalists are working
on empty stomachs. You are employed and issued an ID card which your employers believe
should serve as your meal ticket”.
He confirmed that “NUJ Oyo State Council will not participate
in the May Day march past as a protest for the non-payment of salaries and
disengagement from service. Journalists are being brutalized in one form or the
other”.
While speaking on the disengagement of some staff of the Broadcasting
Corporation of Oyo State, BCOS, Opadotun revealed that “in the next two weeks,
NUJ members affected by the disengagement in BCOS will be reinstated”.
He also described it as pathetic that “labour leaders now
chase government officials for meetings while the reverse should be the case”.
In his remarks, the coordinator of the programme, Professor
Segun Ajiboye, who is also the Zonal Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities,
ASUU, Ibadan Zone, observed that Nigerian workers are at their lowest ebb. “It
is clear that Nigerian workers are pauperized, degraded and trampled on the
ground. Rather than celebrate, we should call for a solemn assembly and
challenge the people ruling us”, he said.
Speaking further, he said “the average worker in Osun is fed
by religious houses. How did we get to this
stage? In Oyo, they said our children should pay N 1,000 school fees, since
they have been collecting that money; no school has received any grant. We
cannot continue to agonize, it is time to organize.”
Responding to Prof Ajiboye’s challenge, Comrade Olawuwo Olaniyi
who represented the state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress said “workers
are living in agony and it seems we are contented about it. The leadership of
the NLC is not sleeping but our followers are not upright. The commitment is no
longer there.”
Olaniyi also pointed out that “you can be forced to work but
can you force people to concentrate? We believe the governor should be more
aggressive in the pursuance of internally generated revenue. Before you become
governor, you are expected to be loaded with ideas. One would have expected
Ajimobi and his people to sit down and look at how to make Oyo State viable”.
While challenging labour leaders to rise against oppression,
former NUJ President, Comrade Lanre Ogundipe noted that “we have vagabonds in
power”. He also had a question for those who he said behave like cowards; “many
are afraid of being sacked. Now that you are not sacked, what benefits have you
derived?”
Continuing, he said “a governor takes bailout, fixes it, isn’t
that a criminal? In this fuel scarcity, a bogus store called Grandex takes fuel
from the government pool every morning, yet people keep quiet. This is not a
moment of celebration; it is a moment of lamentation.”
The programme also had former NLC Chairman, Comrade Bashiru
Apapa, former Secretary, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Comrade Olu Abiala, Mrs.
Foluso Lala, Comrade Ibrahim Taiwo and Dr. Doyin Odebowale, who represented Mr.
Femi Falana in attendance.
Photo: Olawale Awe
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