Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana has called on organized labour to expand its focus beyond minimum wage negotiations and push for enforcement of existing social welfare laws covering housing and healthcare.
Speaking at an Abuja symposium honoring the late Dr. Segun Osoba, Falana argued that a narrow focus on wages has often distracted unions from demanding implementation of policies such as the National Housing Act, which permits deductions from workers’ wages to fund affordable housing programs. He noted that an estimated twenty eight million Nigerians currently lack adequate housing.
He also criticized the management of pension funds, noting that while retirees often struggle to receive their entitlements, federal and state governments have at times borrowed from a pension pool that has grown to roughly thirty trillion naira.
Other speakers at the event, including Prof. Jibril Ibrahim and former Nigeria Labour Congress general secretary John Odah, paid tribute to Osoba’s contributions to constitutional reform and social justice advocacy.
