OFFICERS of the Nigerian Police have reportedly arrested the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, Imo state.
The NLC’s Head of Information, Benson Upah, told the PUNCH that the labour leader was picked up at the union’s secretariat in the state capital and taken to an unknown location.
The NLC was leading a protest and strike in the state due to alleged disrespect for workers and unpaid salaries by Governor Hope Uzodinma’s administration when officers of the Nigeria Police Force apprehended its leader.
The Labour union had vowed to mobilise its members for a total strike in the state starting Wednesday, November 1.
At a press conference on Sunday, October 29, Ajaero accused Imo State governor Hope Uzodimma of disregarding workers’ wellbeing.
He said many of the state workers had died because of alleged non-payment of their salaries by the state government.
He listed some of Uzodimma’s alleged offences against its employees as the purported inability to implement prior agreements; unpaid salary arrears of nearly two years; labelling of employees as ghost workers; and due gratuity arrears, among others.
Ajaero also complained about the state government’s noncompliance with the federal minimum wage, stating that Uzodinma had opposed the use of dialogue and collective bargaining to address the problems.
A reporter with the ICIR
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