NLC President, Joe Ajaero arrested in Imo State

 

OWERRI, Imo, Nigeria – Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero. According to reports, he was arrested in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

 Head of Information, NLC, Benson Upah told Punch that that Ajaero was picked up at the state secretariat of the congress and taken to an unknown location.

“President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero was picked up a few minutes ago from NLC state council secretariat by heavily armed policemen in Owerri and taken to an unknown destination,” Upah said.

Ajaero had during had during a rally in Owerri, accused Governor Hope Uzodimma of neglecting workers’ welfare  and that many of them have died because of the alleged lack of payment of  salaries.

He outlined some of the infractions against workers by Uzodimma, including the alleged refusal to implement previous agreements especially the accord reached on January 9, 2021, outstanding salary arrears of about 20 months, unjust declaration of workers as ghost workers, declaration of pensioners as ghost workers and unsettled gratuity arrears, among others.

He explained that approximately 10,000 pensioners have been wrongly labelled as ghost pensioners resulting in over 22 months of unpaid pensions while about 11,000 workers have been branded by the Imo State Government as ghost workers.

Ajaero also accused Uzodimma of non-compliance with the national minimum wage  and that Governor Uzodinma has resisted the use of social dialogue and collective bargaining to resolve the issues.