The leaderships of the Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON), the National Union of Professional APP-Based Transport Workers (NUPABTW) and the Professional E-Hailing Drivers and Private Owners of Nigeria (PEDPAN) have amalgamated, and consequently kicked off a campaign driven by the slogan, “Nothing For Us Without US” with the objective of achieving formal recognition and adequate representation of informal sector and platform workers for the purposes of achieving decent work and fair remuneration.
At a joint meeting by the three representatives of the unions, which include NUPABTW president, Ibrahim Ayoade,; PEDPA president, Idris Sonuga and FIWON General Secretary, Gbenga Komolafe, the unions unanimously agreed through a statement that the need to protect vulnerable informal sector workers necessitated the amalgamation of the three unions.
They said: “The latest World Bank Report states that 80.4 percent of Nigerians work in the informal sector. Like anywhere else, the pandemic distorted Nigeria labour market and worsened the existing unemployment rate thereby forcing many citizens to the informal sector.
“Many young people mostly university graduates had to seek employment in the gig economy as App-based drivers or other informal sector jobs due to their inability to find formal jobs due to their inability to find formal jobs.
“Informal sector workers are the most vulnerable to the negative effects of the pandemic because some of COVID-19 measures like lockdowns and curfews have resulted in loss of livelihoods for many informal sector workers who depend on daily wages for survival and have no access to social protection,”
They agreed that the above socio-economic situation is been worsened by absence of regulations in both the informal sector and the gig economy, and that that was further compounded with little institutional supports from the government at all levels.
The unions said constant harassment and extortion by state agents like police who ought to be protecting the already disadvantaged workers continued non-stop.
They noted that added to the foregoing burdens placed on workers in the informal sectors are constant harassments and extortion by state agents like police who ought to be protecting the already disadvantaged workers continued non-stop.
On the demands that are set to be achieved through the amalgamation, they unanimously agreed to facilitate full workers and union rights through unionisation.