The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has declared that arrests, intimidation, surveillance, and harassment will not deter organised labour from pursuing workers’ rights and economic justice in Nigeria.
Ajaero made the remarks in Oslo while receiving the Arthur Svensson International Award, a globally recognised honour within the labour movement.
In his acceptance speech, the NLC president accused the Nigerian government of using various forms of intimidation to suppress labour activism and discourage workers from demanding improved living and working conditions.
Ajaero said the award symbolised the struggles of millions of Nigerian workers who continue to face economic hardship despite their contributions to the nation’s economy.
“I stand before you today not as a man, but as a symbol, a true symbol of millions of Nigerian workers who wake up every morning not just to the smell of tear gas, the sound of sirens, and the cold silence of a state that preys on its own people but who go to work hungry and come back hungrier, more emasculated than before they left for work,” he said.
The labour leader described the award as a tool for advancing workers’ rights and international solidarity rather than a personal achievement.
According to him, defending the welfare of workers in Nigeria has increasingly attracted official scrutiny and pressure.
“In Nigeria today, to defend a living wage is to become a target of the state. To demand that a worker should not die of hunger in a country swimming in crude oil is to be labelled an enemy of the state,” he stated.
Ajaero recounted several experiences he described as persecution, including arrests, interrogations, surveillance, and allegations ranging from cybercrime to treason.
“I and my comrades have been arrested like common criminals. I have been dragged before state agencies for questioning on trumped-up charges; charges of terrorism financing, cybercrime, criminal conspiracy, subversion and treasonable felony,” he said.
He also alleged that he had been subjected to repeated questioning by security agencies and claimed that labour activities had been disrupted on several occasions.
The NLC president further stated that his residence in Lagos was destroyed by fire and alleged that he was abducted, detained, and mistreated because of his insistence on the implementation of agreements protecting workers’ rights.
“Our journey since 2023 has been harrowing; my home in Lagos was visited by an unknown fire which razed the building down with all my personal belongings. I was abducted, detained and brutalised by the government for insisting on the implementation of an agreement that protects the rights of workers,” he said.
Ajaero also alleged that he was prevented from travelling to the United Kingdom to attend a labour conference and accused security agencies of maintaining constant physical and electronic surveillance on him.
He further claimed that labour offices had been raided and that workers had faced dismissal for demanding improved wages amid rising inflation and economic hardship.
Despite these experiences, Ajaero insisted that the labour movement would remain steadfast in its campaign for social and economic justice.
“They have the jails, the guns and the instruments of fear. However, we have the power; the power to stop the world because we move the world. We create wealth. We are workers,” he said.
The NLC president concluded by emphasising the strength of collective action, arguing that attempts to silence labour voices would only generate greater resistance and solidarity among workers.
