Labor Rights Now called upon the Nigerian government to end its harassment and mistreatment of union leaders.

    About 15 members of Nigeria's State Security Service arrested the country's top labor leader in October 2004. The Nigerian Labour Congress reported that Adams Oshiomhole (shown above) was injured while being dragged on the tarmac of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport before he was roughly thrown into a waiting vehicle.

    "American trade unionists know Mr. Oshiomhole well and remain concerned for his safety and that of other labor activists involved in nationwide protests," Labor Rights Now President Don Stillman said in a letter to Albert Olakunle Soyombo, the charge d'affaires ad interim at the Nigerian embassy in Washington, DC.

    "The detention and mistreatment of Nigeria's top union official on the eve of a general strike clearly violates internationally recognized labor rights," Stillman noted. Opponents of fuel price increases launched a weeklong strike, supported by the Nigerian Labour Congress.

    "I hope your government will refrain from the jailing of union leaders and protestors and that the military and police forces will refrain from violence against them during the protests," Stillman said in the October 2004 letter.

More Information

• ICFTU's Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights in Nigeria