| | The Nigerian trade union movement is undergoing a profound crisis of many dimensions. At its heart is the economic recovery programme of the Babangida administration which has not only eroded the standard of living of the working people but has also generated an unprecedented wave of labour repression in the country. Ever since July 1986 when the government formally spelt out the main elements of its Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), a great deal of suspicion developed between the Babangida regime and the trade union movement. This is because both sides knew well that the extent to which the SAP would succeed would depend, in part, on the ability of the state to discipline labour. Hence, the trade unions prepared themselves for a struggle aimed at preventing the erosion of gains which they had won over the years while the regime displayed a determination to push ahead with the programme (Issa Areumu, 1987). |
