PRESS RELEASE

The Nigerian working masses continue to feel the impact of a war taking place far away in the Middle East. As the price of a barrel of crude oil rises, rather than having a positive effect on the lives of working people, the reality is that Nigerian workers are among the worst hit, as the cost of living continues to increase sharply.

The Solidarity Network for Workers’ Rights (SNWR) condemns the anti-people capitalist programme of the Tinubu government, which prioritises profit over the survival of the masses and has further exposed Nigerians to a deepening economic crisis.

This is coming at a time when the removal of ‘fuel subsidy’ has plunged the country into severe hardship, with unemployment worsening and the standard of living of the people deteriorating rapidly. Prices of basic goods and services continue to rise uncontrollably, while wages remain stagnant, leaving workers and the poor to bear the brunt of policies they did not create.

This effect from rise in oil prices, is not just a crisis of war, but also a consequence of wrong policies by the Tinubu-led government, which continues to implement the dictates of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank neoliberal policies.

As the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association have warned, rising global oil prices, rather than translating into gains for the economy, will most likely lead to job losses and business closures across the country. In reality, the crisis of unemployment and economic decline continues to worsen. According to the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), about 767 companies shut down in 2023, while around 18,000 jobs were lost in 2024 due to closures and downsizing. This points to a deep and continuing crisis within the economy, driven by capitalist policies that prioritise profit over production and the welfare of the masses. Rather than the government to implementing measures to cushion the effects of these policies, the government has continued along the same path, further deepening inequality and hardship for the majority.

The blame lies squarely with the Tinubu government, whose policies have exposed the Nigerian people and the economy to the shocks of fluctuations in global oil prices. The continued failure of the ruling elite over several decades to make any of the country’s four refineries functional is a clear confirmation of the bankruptcy of the capitalist programme, which only priority is profit and private interests over the needs of the masses.

Instead of utilising Nigeria’s vast resources to stabilise the economy and protect working people, the system leaves the country vulnerable to external crises, with the burden always shifted onto the shoulders of the poor. This reality once again underscores the urgent need for a fundamental alternative that places the commanding heights of the economy under democratic public ownership and control in the interest of the working masses.

The Tinubu government, in a bid to shield its anti-people policies from the embarrassment of a previously reported unemployment rate of over 30%, resorted to a statistical rebasing that now places the country’s unemployment rate at less than 4%. This methodology is not only misleading but exposes the extent to which the regime is willing to manipulate reality to defend its neoliberal agenda.

It is particularly disgraceful that the new measure defines anyone who works for at least one hour a week as “employed.” By this logic, the mass of underemployed, casually engaged, and unstable workers are counted as fully employed, thereby masking the deepening crisis of joblessness and poverty facing millions of Nigerians. This clearly does not reflect the harsh reality that working people experience daily.

Rather than addressing this growing crisis, the government appears more preoccupied with political calculations ahead of the 2027 elections. This further underscores the inability of the capitalist ruling elite to offer any meaningful solution to the problems facing the working class. What is required is not statistical manipulation, but a fundamental break from these policies and the building of an alternative system that prioritises jobs, production, and the needs of the majority of the people.

This is why we in the SNWR call on the NLC and the TUC to commence mobilizing the working people, not only for a call for a living wage but also to organize and build a political alternative armed with a planned system that will nationalize the commanding heights of the economy under democratic workers’ control, devoid of profligacy and corruption.

Signed

Lateef Adams

For SNWR

msasolidarity@gmail.com