Workers and Youth organised a public symposium amidst biting economic hardship
Report by RSM reporters
Cross Section of particpants
The Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN) and the Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON) organised a public symposium amidst biting economic hardship.
Informal workers, youth, students, socialist, trade union leaders and community organisers attended the symposium, which comprises members from different organisations.
The event, themed “Tinubu’s One Year in Office – A New Dawn?” with a sub-theme “Rising Cost of Living and Struggling for a Living Wage – What is the Hope for Working People?” spotlighted the struggles faced by informal workers under Tinubu’s administration. The speakers were able to analyse the Nigerian situation and how the informal workers and the formal workers have constantly been exploited and oppressed.
Comrade Dimeji Macaulay, who gave an introduction on the theme “Tinubu’s first year in office, A new dawn? And sub topic “Rising cost of living and the Struggle for a living wage, what is the hope of the working people” , he analysed the Nigerian situation and linked it with class struggle, that whatever the informal worker is experiencing today is as a result of capitalism and it’s exploitative system, he charged the informal workers to be ready for the struggle to liberate the working people of Nigeria from capitalist claws. He further explained how things have moved from bad to worse under the Tinubu administration, and the question is, what should we do as workers?
The answer is not far fetched.
Fight back !
Comrade Iortyom Moses from Workers and Youth Solidarity Network in his speech decried the alarming levels of poverty, insecurity, and unemployment in Nigeria. He also drew the attention of the comrades to the crisis in the agricultural sector that farmers can no longer go to their farms because of the high rate of insecurity and he linked it with why there’s food scarcity in Nigeria, leading to a steep point of food inflation going further he criticised the government for the decadence in the country’s educational sector and the deplorable infrastructure of the country that even when the federal government collected loan for infrastructure they will loot it and at the end of the day nothing is visible enough to show for the loans, he end his speech by encouraging the workers to keep organising and ready to take their place in the society to abolish the rotten system whose delight is in feeding on the tears of the working people. He criticized the government’s failure to implement the minimum wage and the widespread violence across the country. Moses condemned the underfunding of education and called for collective efforts to address these national challenges.
He described the Tinubu administration as a new dawn but as a series of calamities, accusing it of following the directives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Comrade Blessing Yusuf chairperson of the Federation of informal workers in Nigeria (FIWON) expressed the challenges faced by the informal workers such as double taxation, and insecurity, she further explained that a lot of small businesses have been forced to shut down activities because of the anti-people policies of the Tinubu regime.
Yusuf criticized the recent policies that have worsened the living standards of ordinary Nigerians, pointing to the removal of subsidies, increased electricity tariffs, and multiple taxes as key issues.
Highlighting the significant contributions of the informal sector to the economy, she emphasized that these workers face insecurity and lack social protection despite the fact that businesses in the informal sector contribute significantly to Nigeria’s GDP.
She called for a resistance against these harmful and anti people policies, stressing the urgent need for action to improve the situation in the informal sector. In her conclusion, she scored the regime zero in terms of general performance.
Comrade Botti the representative of the Social Action started his speech by agreeing with what other speakers had said that the President Tinubu regime is a new dawn of progressive destruction, he further said that after identifying the problem faced by the Nigerian workers suggested what is to be done to arrest the situation, he concluded that for us to liberate our people, workers need to keep organising and be united to struggle for a better society he informed the meeting that according to available statistics the informal workers formed about 70% of the total population of Nigeria and it’s a good start for to organise as they have the required force.
Comrade Omole Ibunkun from the Abuja left group started his speech by informing the meeting that there is a struggle going on in Ibadan the Oyo state capital by the informal workers of Summer factory workers who alleged that the government gave them paillatives during covid19 and the management of the company refused to share same to the company’s workers, they came out in mass to protest such an act criminal injustice and some numbers of the protesters where shot in the process, he further pointed out the level of oppression experienced in Nigeria. Pointing out the danger posed by the IMF policies imposed on Nigerians, clearly demonstrate the danger of what the imperialists have forced on African nations and the need to reject them and their puppets, he explained why fighting back is the only solution.
Other speakers and participants at the symposium who made comments also condemned the Tinubu regime’s continued neoliberal policies, arguing that they further exacerbate the hardships faced by ordinary Nigerians
In conclusion
The participants at the public event unanimously agreed to the fact that Tinubu’s capitalist policies have put Nigerian workers in a deeper mess, suffering, and starvation underscoring the need for all Nigerians to fight back. It was generally agreed that a campaign against double taxation on the informal workers across the country be launched. The meeting ended with chanting of solidarity songs.