| | This is an account of the Nigerian General Strike of May 1981 and of the events leading up to it. It highlights the struggle between the Nigerian military regime and organised labour, and the attempts by the former to incorporate the trades union movement. It traces the formation of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the struggle between different groups within the NLC, culminating in the attempt by one group to break the General Strike. The success of the strike reveals the underlying distrust of the governing elites. including those of the trades unions, and the seething discontent which pervades the Nigerian working class. |
