May Day 2002 Report from Nigeria Nigeria Share Tweet This is a brief report of May Day in Nigeria. The NLC (Nigerian Labour Congress) bureaucracy moved the main May Day rally this year to Abuja for their own corrupt reasons. However, the Lagos NLC organised a rally in Lagos. The NLC leaders are now behind Obasanjo's bid to be re-elected president. Adams, leader of the NLC, was at the launching of the Obasanjo re-election declaration. This means they are openly supporting a bourgeois candidate. Worse still, he is the present outgoing president who has been responsible for a widespread programme of privatisation. No wonder the NLC leaders have refused to even attempt to register a workers' party! At the Abuja rally, they rented a crowd to chant pro-Obasanjo slogans. However, the contrary was the case at the Lagos rally and the other NLC rallies round the country. One of the reasons why the NLC leadership ran away from Lagos was because of the heavy anti-Obasanjo mood among the workers. There is enormous anger against the regime's anti-working class policies. Workers have come out against privatisation. An example of the real mood came from the NEPA (Electricity company) workers. They turned up with two coffins: one was for Obasanjo, the other was for privatisation. Clearly a big divide is emerging between the workers of Nigeria and the corrupt ruling elite. It is unfortunate that the leaders of the NLC are not giving the lead that is necessary.
