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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned a proposed amendment to the Employees’ Compensation Act (ECA) currently before the Senate, describing it as an attempt to “capture and politicise workers’ funds.” Speaking at the 2025 Annual Conference of the Labour Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (LACAN) in Abuja, NLC President Joe Ajaero said the union would resist any move to divert contributions meant for injured workers and their families. He said: “This Fund is the lifeblood of workers’ solidarity; it was contributed by workers for their welfare and not as a political slush fund. We will resist this appropriation with every fibre of our being.” Ajaero urged the National Assembly to halt what he described as anti-labour legislative efforts that could weaken workers’ protection, undermine collective bargaining, and erode decent work standards. Ajaero also criticised the proposed Special Economic Zone laws, which he said would permit certain companies to operate outside national labour standards—an arrangement he warned would violate ILO Conventions 87 and 98. “These laws will create islands of impunity where workers have no voice and no rights,” he cautioned. Addressing labour journalists, Ajaero appealed for objective reporting to expose anti-worker policies and defend social justice. “Comrades of the pen, your recorders and keyboards are as powerful as our placards. Together, we must counter misinformation and defend the dignity of the Nigerian worker,” he said. Also speaking, Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Silas Agara, commended LACAN for providing a platform to discuss sustainable employment generation and decent work. Represented by the Director, Special Duties, Mrs Amezhi Apia, he said the NDE had trained more than 33,800 youths and resettled 4,683 beneficiaries with start-up kits and soft loans. “The Directorate remains committed to reducing unemployment and poverty to the barest minimum as there is no alternative to doing so.” Earlier, the Chairman of LACAN, Mr Patrick Abulu, described the conference as a call to action for a fairer and more inclusive labour environment. “We are gathered not merely as attendees, but as architects of a fairer future and voices for the voiceless in the struggle against poverty and inequality,” he said. Abulu added that the theme underscored the need for homegrown solutions to poverty and inequality through fair labour recruitment and decent work practices. “The fight for fair labour recruitment is inseparable from the fight for a prosperous Nigeria. We must dismantle structures of casualisation and guarantee decent work for all,” he said
