In an Independence Day message on Tuesday, the NLC said sixty-six years ago, the nation's founding fathers and mothers wrestled Nigeria from colonial rule with the hope that political independence would translate into economic freedom and dignity for the people.
The Congress said while it salutes every worker, artisan, youth, woman, retiree and informal sector operator who struggles daily to survive, it "refuses to drown in empty patriotic rituals while the masses drown in poverty."
According to the labour centre, 66 years after independence, governance decisions have been captured by neoliberalism.
"An ideology and a policy framework that does not serve workers, does not serve the masses, does not serve the nation, but is designed to serve Western capital," the NLC said.
It stated that from policy formulation to resource allocation, from taxation to subsidy removal, and from wage suppression to price escalation, the beneficiaries are a tiny elite and international capital, while the costs are borne by Nigerian workers whose labour built the country.
The NLC said the country is now at a crossroads of a full-scale survival crisis, noting that the real value of wages has been wiped out by inflation.
It said petrol now sells for N1,430 per litre or higher in major cities and far more in remote areas, adding that the surge in transport costs has driven up food prices, school fees, house rent and other necessities while wages remain stagnant.
The Congress described the May 2023 petrol price hike as a systematic assault on the working class.
"Government claimed subsidy removal would free up resources for infrastructure and social services. Three years later, petrol prices have multiplied several times over, yet the promised infrastructure and social services remain mirages. Where exactly did the subsidy savings go? Nigerians deserve an answer, and they deserve it now," the statement said.
The NLC however said oppression has never been a permanent destiny, stressing that the power of Nigerian workers ended colonial rule and forced governments to retreat from anti-people policies in the past.
"Hope exists, but it will not fall from the sky. Hope depends on the decisions we make and the actions we take as trade unions, workers, and as a people," it added.
