Tragic: A Nation Without Heroes Or In Need Of Heroes

 By Owei Lakemfa

Nigeria is like an orphan. A country without heroes.  The political leadership over the    decades have been held in suspicion by a frustrated citizenry whose situation simply gets worse.    The country    does not seem to have heroes that    generations can look up to or, can inspire.    

*Tinubu

The famous German writer,   Bertolt Brecht declared in his  play Life of Galileo: “Poor is the nation that has no heroes, but poorer still is the nation that, having heroes, fails to recognize and honour them”. This was what the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the    family of Michael Imoudu, the most famous labour leader in our history,    on Saturday, December 20, 2025    stepped in to correct. They not just revealed that Nigeria has contemporary heroes, but that we have men and women whose life and sacrifices seem fictional.    This was at the maiden  Michael Imoudu Awards, MIA    held in Lagos to commemorate the twentieth passing away of Imoudu, one of the most iconic figures in Nigeria history.

Why ASUU Cannot Be Banned

 By Femi Falana

Under the British colonial regime, trade unions were prohibited while strikes were criminalised. But Nigerian workers defied the ban and formed trade unions to challenge the crude exploration of the nation’s resources by the foreign colonisers. When the British saw the futility of the proscription the Trade Union Ordinance of 1939 was promulgated. The law allowed the formation of trade unions but outlawed strikes. Notwithstanding the anti strike provision of the law the general strike of 1945 led by the Nigerian Railway Union under the leadership of Comrade Michael Imoudu paralysed the colonial economy for days.

*Falana 

From that moment, workers resolved to be in the front line in the decolonisation struggle. Hence, the British resorted to brutal attacks of workers. For example, the Enugu coal miners were brutally attacked by the colonial police for embarking on strike for improved conditions of service in November 1949. The murderous attack led to the death of 21 colliery workers while several others were injured. The strike provoked a nationwide condemnation, which exposed the atrocious activities of the British colonial regime.