Frontline Labour leader, Comrade Issa Aremu, has hailed the 20 years of Nigeria’s democracy, while commending President Muhammadu Buhari for recognizing June 12 as the Democracy Day.
According to him, labour union is the greatest beneficiary of democracy as it can’t operate without it.
He spoke in Lagos at the weekend during an interactive session with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the activities of the apex bank to improve the economy.
He stressed that the labour union deserves to celebrate the feat of 20 years of uninterrupted democracy considering that the country hitherto experienced 30 years of military regime under which the labour suffered.
According to him, under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida and late General Sani Abacha, the Labour suffered a lot.
“Under IBB, NLC was dissolved in 1988 and in 1994, Abacha dissolved us again. Labour cannot function very well without democracy. We are a democratic organization,” he said.
He reiterated that the President deserved every accolade for recognizing June 12 as Democracy Day, adding that every Nigerian should resolve that never again will a free and fair election be annulled by any leader or umpire.
“This is why I think we should all celebrate as Labour leaders. We should not leave this to politicians alone. We cannot operate without democracy”, he added.
Aremu, who contested as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2019 election in Kwara state, said the labour union as a democratic body is also teaching Nigeria democracy.
He charged the unionists to be abreast with the knowledge of politics and the economy.
“A good unionist must know about inflation, interest rates, capacity utilization and employment rates. You must know about the Monetary Policy Rates (MPR). All these issues affect us in the world of work”, he said.
