The Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation, owned by Chinese, has been shut down by the Nigerian Labour Crescent (NLC) over what it described as dehumanising condition of Nigerian workers in the company.
Officials of the NLC stormed the company located at the new headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Lugbe, Abuja as early as 730 am, but could not gain access into the company as the gate of the company was locked against the protesting union and its picketing tea.
However, the gate was opened by the management just as no management staff of the company spoke on the protest or respond to the allegations raised by labour.
The General Secretary of NLC, Emmanuel Ugboaja, lamented the alleged inhumane treatment meted out to workers at the construction site.
Ugboaja said the Chinese company employed the workers on an ad hoc basis with no conditions of service attached or any welfare or medical services in place.
According to him, one of the workers, a driver identified as Mr Augustine, died due to neglect and lack of timely medical attention.
“No pension, no gratuity, no food, no water and no explanation, where will help come from? Every day, we plead with the government to provide a minimal social security floor, to no avail. That is the challenge we have. This challenge is real,” Ugboaja said.
Ugboaja said while the picketing action would continue, the leadership of labour hoped to engage the management of the company in a discussion.
The widow of the late driver, Mrs Augustine, said the company abandoned her husband at the hospital and also did not allow him to go home for treatment.
“When they eventually permitted him to go home, his situation worsened. He had a swollen neck and looked highly malnourished,” she said.
The woman said she took her husband to the Gwagwalada Teaching Hospital in Abuja and where he died subsequently.
According to her, the Chinese company refused to grant her assistance and instead sacked her husband.
