ELECTRICITY PRIVATISATION: The Ominous Signs and the Case for Working People’s Opposition (By Kola Ibrahim) Like every house built on fraud, the attempt of the Nigerian ruling class to privatize Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and the electricity sector, is already falling flat. Of course, without principled opposition by the working masses, led by their unions and other pro-masses
FG To Scrap 220 Agencies, Parastatals, Etc (By Victor Osakwe) In June this year, it was reported widely in Nigerian newspapers that the federal government of President Goodluck Jonathan was planning to scrap 220 of its agencies, parastatals and commission (Leadership newspaper, June 15, 2013). This is in line the recommendation of the Steve Oronsaye led committee on restructuring and
Dura Pack Workers Must Mobilise to Engage Management in Struggles for Better Working Conditions and the Recall of Illegally Sacked/Locked-out Workers By Chinedu Bosah Given a series of anti-workers policies, workers were eager to engage the management of Dura Pack Lagos in struggle. On August 7, 2013 workers were charged to embark on strike action, but the leading workers, most
AU AT 50: Working Class Alternative Urgently Needed Across Africa (By Lanre Arogundade) Only the clique of about fifty African leaders that gathered in Ethiopia way back in May this year for the so-called 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) the successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU), formed in 1963 could have been deluded by the achievement
SYRIA: NO TO IMPERIALIST INTERVENTION Editorial from the Socialist (paper of the Socialist Party, CWI in England & Wales) Via social media, smart phones and traditional news channels a flood of bloody images, footage and reports of the unbearable suffering inflicted on the Syrian masses has been broadcast around the world. Initially in 2011, following the revolutions in Tunisia and
RIVERS’ STATE CRISIS: Independent Working Class Political Solution Needed No Support for Rotimi Amaechi or other section of the ruling elite (By Ayo Ademiluyi, DSM Rivers/Bayelsa) In a demonstration of the prevailing madness that characterize bourgeois politics in Nigeria, the attempt by five lawmakers to impeach the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi has set in motion another series of drama
IAR&T IBADAN: Director Sacked After 10 Months Of Workers Struggle! (By Abbey Trotsky) On the 20th May, 2013, Prof B A Ogunbodede, the Director of the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan, an affiliate institution of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, was sacked following the over ten (10) months protracted struggle of the entire workers of the institute who
GROWING COMMERCIALISATION OF EXAMINATION (By Wole Olabanji Engels, DSM, OAU Branch) Daily in Nigeria, the working masses go through intensified agony and suffering caused by the profit-first priority of the ruling class. Today, growing commercialisation of entrance examinations has further deepened the agonizing condition of Nigerian poor and working parents. For students to proceed from one level of education to
LASU FEE-HIKE: Two Years After (By James Foluso) Barely two years after the introduction of the 725% hike in tuition fees of Lagos State University, the resultant effect of this anti-poor policy has become very obvious in the institution. The hike which resulted in new students paying between N195,750 and N348,750 as against the old fee of N25,000 has successfully
EXPLOITATION AND REPRESSION IN OSCOTECH, ESA-OKE: Students Need to Struggle (By ERC Reporters) With unprecedented exploitation of students and repression by the management of Osun State College of Technology (OSCOTECH), Esa-Oke, students have every right to struggle. While the management of the school claimed that hand-outs are not compulsory, the same management has refused to stop chronic exploitation of students
ABIA STATE: A Beacon of South-East Ruling Elites’ Failure Time for a United Struggle of the Working Masses (By Chinedu Agbebire, DSM, Abia State) Just as it obtains elsewhere in Nigeria, the poor working people of the South-eastern region of the country have paid dearly for unbridled looting and wastage by the self-serving capitalist elites in the past fourteen years
DEMOLITIONS IN OSUN STATE: For Adequate Compensation for the Victims and Democratic Planning of Development Projects (By Alfred Adegoke, Protem Chairperson, Osun State SPN) Osogbo, the Osun State Capital has become another huge demolition site, no thanks to the Aregbesola-led/APC government’s so-called road expansion and town beautification. This demolition has led to displacement of hundreds of poor people, who are
SOCIALIST DEMOCRACY SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2013 EDITION EDUCATION CRISIS: Need for United Mass Action (By Kola Ibrahim, Protem Secretary, Osun State SPN) That education in Nigeria is in its death agony is no more news on the basis of facts being reeled out daily. From chronically inadequate facilities, to poor conditions of study and living of students, inadequate staff, poor
AJEGUNLE MARKETS CLOSURE: (By Moshood Osunfurewa, DSM, Ajegunle, Lagos) The recent closure and later re-opening of the three markets in Ajegunle, a downtrodden Lagos community whose population mostly live from hand to mouth, without a tenable reason shows clearly how far the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is from the masses. The closure and re-opening of Alayabiagba, Alaba,
FIRST 2 YEARS OF JONATHAN ADMINISTRATION: Glitz and Glamour of the Midterm Report Cannot Hide the Failure (By Peluola Adewale) In May President Goodluck Jonathan celebrated the first two years of his administration with a self-praising and highfalutin midterm report. He was elected in 2011 election though he had been in power as the acting President since 2009 following the
ERC Holds Free Holiday Coaching In Ajegunle (By Moshood Osunfurewa & Tunde Yusuf) The 2013 edition of the annual free holiday coaching exercise of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) held at the Anglican Primary School, 1 Ezie Lane via Arumoh Street, Oppositee Boundary Road, Ajegunle Apapa, Lagos. First day of classes held on Monday 5th August, 2013. Over 300 students
PENSIONERS’ WOES: The Need for Labour Movement’s Concerted Response (By Kola Ibrahim, Protem Secretary, Osun State SPN) “Since we were retired, no kobo was paid to me. Every time, we would be called to come to Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, to fill one form after another. Sometimes, we sleep at Awolowo Road on the bare floor, for us to be attended
LAGOS SPN CONDEMNS DEPORTATION OF POOR PEOPLE BY THE LAGOS STATE GOVT. (By Chinedu Bosah, Lagos State Protem Chairperson, SPN) Lagos State branch of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) condemns in strong terms the unlawful deportation of poor people, destitute and beggars to other parts of the country by the Babatunde Fashola/ACN/APC government in Lagos State. The state government
NGF ELECTION AND THE UNDEMOCRATIC RULING CLASS (By Chinedu Bosah) The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election that took place on May 24, 2013, has come and gone but the controversy still lingers on. Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi scored 19 votes while Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang scored 16 votes with Yobe State Governor absent. The NGF was formed several
2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS AND THE WORKING MASSES Segun Sango, DSM General Secretary Under the timetable of Nigeria’s current constitution, the working and suffering masses may have to endure the country’s rulers at central and state levels until the next general elections which unfortunately are still some twenty months away! But so huge is the level of economic and political failure