The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) president, Joe Ajaero, has exited the Twitter Space conversation organised by SaharaReporters amid backlashes from Nigerians who stated that the NLC had failed under his leadership.
Ajaero had featured on the SaharaReporters programme on Friday titled, “Economic Hardship: Ajaero to discuss living wage, the NLC and what next.”
Meanwhile, during the conversation, the NLC president chickened out of the Twitter space conversation as Nigerians bombarded him with questions about NLC failures.
“He couldn’t handle the heat. He never expected to be called out on the platform. He couldn’t take the backlash so he left. He’s not even picking calls presently,” one of the anchors told SaharaReporters.
Days ago, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) declared a two-day nationwide mass protest slated for February 27 and 28 over the biting hardship in the country.
Joe Ajaero had stated this at Labour House, Abuja, during a press conference.
SaharaReporters had reported on Monday that the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) insisted that they would embark on strike even as they warned the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government.
At a meeting between the labour leaders and officials of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, headed by the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, on Monday, the labour leaders had said only the government could stop the planned strike by addressing the 15-point agreement reached on October 2, 2023.
One of the labour leaders at the meeting had said that though the minister pleaded with the labour leaders to shelve the planned strike, stressing that the federal government was already addressing labour demands, the labour leaders were adamant.
“We categorically told the minister and her team that our ultimatum stands. We were emphatic that only the government can stop the strike by honouring the agreement we reached on October 2, 2023.
“We cannot say the meeting was a deadlock because it has opened avenue for discussion. If the government had been opened to discussions, probably, we would not have issued the strike notice. As it is, we are not going back on the ultimatum, not with the mass suffering and poverty across the country. Well, the responsibility lies with government,” he had said.
