Tinubu’s Two Years In Office: No Progress, Only Increased Suffering And Hardship In Nigeria — NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s two-year anniversary in office, saying Nigerian workers and the general public have seen no benefits—only hardship and suffering.

NLC President Joe Ajaero, reflecting on the administration’s first two years, declared there is nothing to celebrate since the government took office.

“When President Bola Tinubu took office on May 29, 2023, he promised a new dawn, bold economic reforms that would rescue Nigeria from fiscal instability and set it on a path to prosperity.

“But two years later, the only thing bolder than his rhetoric is the magnitude of suffering and hardship his policies have inflicted on workers and ordinary Nigerians.

Far from renewing hope, his administration has recycled the same failed neoliberal experiments of the past, proving once again that you cannot cure a patient by prescribing the poison that made them sick in the first place,” Ajaero said.

According to him, the abrupt removal of the petrol subsidy shocked an already fragile economy, causing fuel prices to surge from N187 to over N600 per litre overnight.

The NLC leader said that instead of reinvestment, Nigerians have faced brutal inflation, forcing families to skip meals, businesses to close daily, and transport costs to eat up most of workers’ wages.

He added that the naira, left to “market forces,” has plummeted in value, turning Nigeria into a bargain basement for neighboring countries, while local industries struggle under the pressure of imported inflation.

“What makes this pain even more frustrating is that none of it is new. We have seen this script before, subsidy removals, devaluations, and IMF-approved austerity, each time sold as the bitter pill Nigeria must swallow for a brighter future. But when has it ever worked?

“These same policies under past administrations only widened inequality, enriched a few, and left the majority poorer. Tinubu’s version is no different, except the suffering is deeper, the anger louder, and the government’s response more brutal.

“Nigerian workers have seen their real wages obliterated. Pensioners, SMEs (facing over 150 per cent inflation in inputs), and 150 million Nigerians are now multidimensionally poor. It has been two years of intimidation and harassment for labour leaders and trade unions in Nigeria.

“Flagrant disregard for court orders and the criminalisation of union protests and actions have become the norm. Wage award arrears at the federal level remain unpaid, despite repeated promises.

“The only notable effort is the provision of compressed natural gas, CNG, buses by the Federal Government to ease transportation for Nigerian workers, but this remains grossly inadequate, hampered by severe gas infrastructure deficits,” he added.