The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Anambra State has set up a committee to mobilize support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi.
At its meeting in Awka on Wednesday, labour constituted a political mobilisation committee headed by a former chairman of NLC in the State, Comrade Charles Onyeagba.
Other members of the committee include the immediate past NLC chairman in the State, Jerry Nnubia (Vice Chairman), Odiegwu Anthony (Secretary), Chukwuka Gaius (Assistant Secretary), Maduabum Patricia (Treasurer) and Nweke Ifeanyi (PRO/Organizing Secretary).
The rest are Ubani A B, Odili Chike, Cele Okeafor Ngozi, Uyanwunne Eucharia, Ikeazor Charles and Onyejiaka Emmanuel.
The Anambra State Chairman of NLC, Mrs. Chinwe Orizu, while inaugurating the committee said it was an instruction from the national leadership of the NLC, adding that similar committees were being set up in all the states of the federation to ensure the victory of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election.
According to Orizu, time has gone when workers in the country would appear to be apolitical and allowed mediocrity to thrive.
She said: “We are not talking of political parties now. This is workers’ movement. We call it workers’ movement because the workers want to take over the political power of this country.
“We no longer want to sit on the fence. That is why the 2023 project is called workers’ movement and every worker in Nigeria should be involved.
“We need to educate our workers. NLC sees it as a duty that in Labour Party, our dreams will be fulfilled.
“Workers of this country have been so much oppressed. The money they give us as take-home does not take us home again. We are just suffering and the suffering is not ending. “Let us have it at the back of our mind that this is holy anger. We should rise in holy anger to defend this moment that is called workers’ movement. We have a great job to do because the movement is like in our home. Anambra is the seat of this movement. We, workers of Anambra State, will take it upon ourselves to see that this labour movement is actualized so that the oppressed will have a say.
“In Nigeria people are sharing dollars and ASUU has been on strike for months because the government has reneged on the agreement it signed with ASUU in 2009 and we are in 2022.
“Next week, this country will be shut down in protest because our government is insensitive to the plight of the workers and the downtrodden.
“It is the children of the workers that are sitting at home for this past six months of ASUU strike and If care is not taken, many of them will not go back to school whenever they will be called back to school because they have been frustrated.
“The labour sees it that injury to one is injury to all. These people have injured us enough that we should take the bull by the horns. It is no longer business as usual. The workers have come out.
“It not a geographical thing because if you go to the North, the poverty is even greater. We believe that when the righteous man is on the throne, the people rejoice. It is not about political party now; it is about who will salvage this country.
“It is our duty to ensure that Anambra, being the seat or this movement, will make a difference”.
Chairman of the committee, Charles Onyeagba urged Nigerian workforce to be wary of political jobbers who would want to destabilize the movement.
He said: “We clearly understand what is before us. A catalogue of the problems of Nigeria and what is happening nation-wide is not new to any of us. This movement by NLC is overdue”.
Onyeagba recalled that the political wing of the Nigeria Labour Congress was actually formed about 2001/2002, regretting that nothing came out of it because of a lot of factors that affected it all over the country.
“The good thing about this movement is that we won’t be scouting for membership as our members are all over the place. Once you start speaking for somebody, he or she is bound to follow you,” he stated.