PRESS STATEMENT
The democratic rights of Nigerian workers have been brazenly attacked at the Global Plus Publishing Company, a printing company based in Oregun part of Ikeja, Lagos, which is owned by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy.
The Managing Director of the company, Mrs Sade Imoagene, has converted the company into brutish slave camp where democratic rights are flagrantly trampled upon. On March 13, 2026, she sacked 75 workers who had joined trade unions and fraudulently declared redundancy as a cover-up. By law, redundancy is declared where a company suffers loss of revenue in the course of business and has to reduce the workforce to a manageable level. Therefore, from all ramifications, this is not a redundancy exercise but a clear case of witch hunt of workers and the trade unions. The company does not lack patronage or lose revenue. Indeed, regular targets in terms of production and revenue are surpassed by workers year-in, year-out.
Forty of the unlawfully sacked workers belong to the National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW) affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) while 35 workers are members of the Pulp, Paper and Paper Products, Printing and Publishing Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PPAPPPROW) affiliated to the Trade Union Congress (TUC). The genesis of the problem was when the workers joined the unions (NUPPPPROW and PPAPPPROW) in August 2025 and the Managing Director would not allow the two unions to organise. She pressured union members to dismember through a series of harassment, intimidation and different oppressive measures. These oppressive activities culminated into the mass sack that took place on March 13, 2026. We believe that Mrs Imoagene could not have carried out such a mass sack without the knowledge and express approval of Pastor Chris, the owner of the company.
It is unfortunate that Pastor Chris and the management of Global Plus Publishing Company would flagrantly violate Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and section 20 of the Labour Act. Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees the inalienable right and freedom of Nigerian workers and people to assemble and associate with other persons to form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of their interests. Section 20 of the Labour Act states:
(1) In the event of redundancy-
(a) the employer shall inform the trade union or workers’ representative concerned of the reasons for and the extent of the anticipated redundancy;
(b) the principle of “last in, first out” shall be adopted in the discharge of the particular category of workers affected, subject to all factors of relative merit, including skill, ability and reliability; and
(c) the employer shall use his best endeavours to negotiate redundancy payments to any discharged workers who are not protected by regulations made under subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The Minister may make regulations providing, generally or in particular cases, for the compulsory payment of redundancy allowances on the termination of a worker’s employment because of his redundancy.
(3) In this section “redundancy” means an involuntary and permanent loss of employment caused by an excess of manpower.
The trade unions have challenged this violation of workers’ rights. Rather than the management reinstating the sacked 75 workers, it went ahead to award paltry sums of money to the affected workers’ bank account dubbed “Long Service Award” such that some workers earned less than N200,000 while the highest paid were workers who had worked with the company for 22 years and got N1,400,000. Hence, the management refused to abide by the redundancy rules as stipulated by Labour Act.
The National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPPPROW), Pulp, Paper and Paper Products, Printing and Publishing Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PPAPPPROW), Trade Union Congress (TUC) Lagos State Chapter, Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) and other groups have responded by picketing the company located at No 3 Adebayo Akande Street Off Kudirat Abiola Way Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos. The picketing and all other forms of struggles will continue until workers’ demands are met.
We also call on Pastor Chris Oyakhilome to live what he preaches and stop using his companies to enslave Nigerian workers. Hence Pastor Chris should call the management of Global Plus Publishing Company to order and ensure it obeys the law and respect the democratic rights of Nigerian workers.
We call on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the national leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), pro-labour groups and human rights organisations to give active solidarity to the victimized workers of Global Plus Publishing Company. This solidarity is necessary in view of the fact that the Nigerian government, being a capitalist state, will most likely not call the management to order but tacitly supports the management in its reckless anti-workers activities as it did in the case of Dangote Refinery. So, the affected workers have only the solidarity of the labour movement and people of good conscience to rely on. If Global Plus Publishing Company finally succeeds in victimising the workers and undermining the union, many more companies will follow suit in crushing union rights and activities.
SIGNED:
Comrade Rufus Olusesan Comrade Chinedu Bosah
National Chairperson National Publicity Secretary
