The Wednesday 4 September 2024, edition of the Nigerian Army Resource Centre (NARC) Weekly Subject Experts’ Presentation was held at Hall C TY Buratai Block, Abuja. The only presentation for the day was made by the Subject Experts on Middle East.
The only presentation for the day was made by Brig Gen SO Oloyede subject experts on Middle East, centered his presentation on Israel’s Top Trade Union Calls for Strike in a Bid to Secure Release Deal for Hostages. On 1 September 2024, Brendan McFadden, a freelance reporter and Editor of News revealed that Israel’s leading trade union has called for a general strike on Monday 2 September 2024. This follows mass protests across the country, calling for a deal to release hostages held in Gaza after the bodies of six captives were discovered on Sunday 1 September 2024 (McFadden, 2024). The six bodies were found in an underground tunnel complex beneath the Rafah area of Gaza. The murdered hostages were among those captured by Hamas during its attack on Southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which saw 250 Israeli hostages taken and 1,200 people killed.
Trade union federation Histadrut, announced the strike to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Histadrut represents hundreds of thousands of workers across sectors such as: Education, Agriculture, Schools, Municipal Services and Public Transport are set to be closed, as well as Ben Gurion international airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel’s main transport hub. Chairman of the union Arnon Bar-David called for all civilian workers to join the strike at a press conference, adding: “We are getting body bags instead of a deal. A deal is more important than anything else. I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention might move those who need to be moved, I call on the people of Israel to go out to the streets tonight and tomorrow and for everyone to take part in the strike” He added,
The decision to hold the strike came after the union held meetings with the main group representing the families of hostages. The union said the walk out is planned to start at 6am and will last for one day and Ben Gurion airport will be closed from 8am. In Jerusalem, thousands of people, some of them weeping, gathered outside Netanyahu’s office and blocked roads. In Tel Aviv, hostages’ relatives marched with coffins to symbolize the death toll. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of hostages, convened mass demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, vowing to “shut the country down” as it blamed the deaths of the hostages on the government.
In his analysis and lessons for Nigeria, Brig Gen SO Oloyede pointed out that, In Nigeria, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), formally constituted in 1978 has 42 industrial unions. Historically, the Nigerian government has often responded to NLC strikes with temporary measures to pacify the labour force without implementing substantive economic reforms (Ekpeyong, 2024). An example is the new wage adjustment that does not keep pace with inflation or improve the economic environment. But the core issues plaguing the Nigerian economy, such as poor infrastructure, corruption and lack of diversification are not addressed by NLC strikes. As a result, even if temporary wage increases are achieved, the underlying economic problems remain unsolved. In order to achieve sustainable improvements in workers’ livelihoods, Ekpeyong (2024) opined that NLC could consider advocating for comprehensive economic reforms, Industrialization and Energy Security rather than focusing solely on wage increases.
In the interest of the people, the opposition party in Israel frowned at government’s reluctance to engage in prisoner swap deal with Hamas. Opposition political parties in Nigeria could also engage in constructive criticism of government policies where they run contrary to national interests, without politicising issues. However, the active membership of NLC’s leadership of a political party presents a rather complex situation. The current NLC President, Mr Joe Ajaero, is an active member of Labour Party (LP) – a rival political party opposed to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) (Nwachukwu, 2023). Consequently, genuine intentions by NLC are seen by politicians and citizens opposed to LP as camouflaged LP moves to sabotage FGN’s efforts (Uzodinma, 2023). Thus, his inability to delineate his position in trade unionism and party politics breeds lack of trust by FGN. This has weakened NLC’s power and influence on the government and the population. Hence the need for a separation of roles by the NLC leadership becomes imperative.
He recommended that, the Federal Government of Nigeria should continue to engage in dialogue as the first best step towards conflict resolution and also NLC should forward identities of the leadership of protesting groups to the Police and intelligence agencies for vetting and necessary prosecution for any act of violence or criminal activities during “peaceful” protests.
