President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, has urged workers to exercise greater political responsibility as the country approaches another electioneering period He warned against selling their votes and subsequently expecting labour leaders to fight governments they helped elect.
Speaking at the 2026 Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) workshop at Golden Tulip in Lagos, Osifo, who was represented by the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Comrade Bosun Olabiyi-Agoro, said workers must protect their interests by making informed choices during the transition period.
He urged workers to place their collective interests above partisan considerations, stressing that they should not compromise their votes and later turn to organised labour to challenge governments whose emergence they had facilitated.
In his own remarks as the President of PENGASSAN, Olabiyi-Agoro called for reconciliation and stronger cooperation between the NLC and TUC, urging both labour centres to resolve their differences and establish a more effective working relationship.
He proposed that the two organisations develop a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their relationship and ensure a common position on issues affecting Nigerian workers.
He said it would be disappointing if the Federal Government watched the two labour centres remain divided, adding that their differences should not undermine the collective interests of workers.
Olabiyi-Agoro expressed confidence that the labour centres would eventually overcome their disagreements and unite against policies inimical to workers’ welfare.
He said, just as water naturally finds its way into a common channel, the NLC and TUC would ultimately become a formidable force against the Federal Government’s neoliberal policies and a stronger voice for Nigerian workers.
He stressed the need for both centres to harmonise their positions before engaging the government, explaining that disagreements over issues such as the N70,000 transportation allowance should not automatically be interpreted as opposition to workers’ welfare.
Drawing from his experience as a former TUC chairman in Oyo State, he recalled how cooperation between the two labour centres had helped advance workers’ interests.