Deputy president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), president, United Labour Congress (ULC), and general secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Joe Ajaero, has warned that continuous provocation of the people will end badly because they would soon know who owns the country.
Ajaero who made the statement in an interview with Sunday Sun, said Nigeria has degenerated into a lawless country where leaders do whatever they want despite existing agreements and constitutional provisions.
He said when the system is broken, the outcome is what the country is currently facing. He however, noted that the many issues affecting the country were since discussed in the 2014 National Confab organized by the Jonathan administration. But added that the Buhari administration seem not to be interested in the solutions contained in the document.
Responding questions on agitations across the country, he said, "That is human nature, but you see when it becomes so much then there is a need for you to pause as a leader.
"The dimension we are witnessing these days, the dimension in the East, West, North, and South is alarming. This is unlike before where one part of the country will be agitating, but today the whole country is agitating.
"Everywhere there is agitation and in such a situation the people have to come together, not like that of 1957 constitutional conference or 1960 Independence constitution, we have gone beyond that but here is people coming together to decide how to solve this problem, to ventilate their anger and say: This is how we want things or this country to be, call it a sovereign conference.
"I happen to be a member of the last conference (2014) and everything we needed for this country to move forward was discussed there, nobody has dusted that document to look at what is in it.
"I can tell you that the solution to build a strong, united country is in that document. In that conference, all issues concerning Nigeria’s problem were comprehensively discussed and the agreement was clearly a consensus.
"If you pick out the people that attended that conference, you will see that Nigeria was there. Everybody saw the reason for whatever decision and it was taken on the floor there. There is need to look at or review that document or be ready for more agitations because what we have cannot work."
On why the country is witnessing strikes everywhere, he said, "That is the situation at the moment because the issue of strikes by these various unions and workers is a state of the industrial relations in Nigeria.
"Those that are not on strike are not better off, maybe for obvious reasons, or one reason or the other. Some of them have expressed the threat that will equally explode in no distant time, some their matters are being managed. In a situation whereby the employer does not pay what was agreed or does not obey the rules, there is no other option than what we are witnessing.
He said there is a great deal of provocation in the country as leaders prioritize their own pockets over the welfare of the people.
He said, "When workers are frustrated they stay in their houses and when they stay in their houses you now see it as a strike. In some states now there are lots of provocations.
"In Kaduna State, for instance, the governor there (El-Rufai) is sacking thousands of workers and he is still talking tough on a daily basis, saying that part of his job is not to pay workers’ salary and he is boasting about it.
"The employers have continued to attack and attack and in most instances when you have bad managers, not just that they are not paying or that they are not doing what they are supposed to do, but their comments and utterances are such that you doubt whether they have any knowledge of personnel or industrial relations management."
He then added that these oppressive forces who continue to cause pain for Nigerians, will soon "know who owns the land" when the people rise up against them.