A former presidential spokesperson for the Labour Party, Doyin Okupe, has asked the organised labour to shed its colonial mentality, adding that strike actions should be the “last weapon” to make demands from the government.
Okupe stated this when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, on Friday.
The PUNCH reports that members of the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, on Monday, shut down the federal secretariat, among other government establishments, in protest of the N60,000 minimum wage proposed by the Federal government.
Speaking during the nterview, Okupe said the government should not wait until a group had threatened national survival, before offering its listening ears, adding that both labour and the government must learn to dialogue.
“I want Labour to shed this colonial mentality with which Labour grew up and became a force. You know it is not Labour versus a foreign government. It is labour, a Nigerian labour organisation, versus the Nigerian government, and there is nothing that cannot be negotiated. It may be difficult, and you know, I have said it before, I am saying it again, strikes and strike actions, massive strike action, should be the last, very last weapon.
“The government of the day should not wait until there is a major cataclysm or a threat to our national survival before you listen to labour or anybody, not just labour. Anybody that is protesting, government should listen and develop a listening ear, and dialogue. That is the instrument that civilised societies employ, we must continually dialogue, you know, to have conversations and negotiations. You don’t have to agree the first time, you don’t have to agree, but we can make up to disagree and agree,” he said.
Okupe also stated that he agreed with the position of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation who said the shutdown of the national grid was a treasonable offence (https:///national-grid-shutdown-treasonable-sgf/). He condemned the shutting down of the national grid by organised labour, describing it as “unacceptable”, “sinful”, and “criminal”.
“You know, what he said was absolutely correct. You can’t go and switch off the national grid of a nation. It’s unacceptable. But you know, I don’t also blame labour, the situation should not have arisen.
“We have a whole government in place, where is the security, where is intelligence? You know, people are also taking politics too far. You have a point to make, but you don’t have to grind the government to a halt. You know, Labour off course by going to shut up national grid. That is evil, it is, it is sinful it is unacceptable and it’s criminal,” he added.