Caboose

The two groups of trade unions in Nigeria, the Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress, are planning a general strike in an attempt to force the government to back down on the recent increase in VAT and fuel prices.

If the strike goes ahead it could make life very difficult. The petroleum industry unions are already on strike, leading to a petrol shortage that has pushed prices up still further. People have been advised to stockpile food.

I was watching TV this morning to find out what the situation was and saw an interview with a Lagos PDP politician. As usual it was more a series of monologues than an interview but some of it was interesting. The PDP man at one point encouraged civil disobedience and non-payment of taxes and also made the interesting claim that according to political science as soon as a government is sworn in it is legitimate. So it doesn’t matter how much an election has been rigged, as soon as you’re sworn in everything’s OK.

I find the political parties here interesting. They seldom seem to have any policies or ideas but act more as groupings of people who want power. Politicians move freely between parties as it suits them. In this they remind me very much of New Labour in the UK, no morals, no ideals, just a craving for power.

As an aside, it seems very Nigerian to me that there are two groups of trade unions, one for ‘senior’ workers and one for their ‘juniors’.