This year’s May Day celebration otherwise known as Workers’ Day may have come and gone But its memories in terms of the usual workers demands for improved welfare packages and the familiar responses by the various governments promising to look into such demands, would remain in our memories for months to come.

It is interesting to note that, while most states chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC were asking for full implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage, some were requesting for payment of backlog of promotion and leave allowances owed workers. In all, workers expressed unhappiness with the galloping inflation which makes nonsense of their meager salaries, hence their request for government to seek ways of cushioning the bitting effect of poor salaries, was not misplaced.

Perhaps, checking the inflationary rate could be the rationale for the Central Bank of Nigeria’s introduction of cashless policy to drive an economy that produces virtually nothing in sufficient quantity  for the teaming population, but imports every conceivable commodity, like sand, in place of fertilizers.

Be that as it may, the workers’ tales on May Day differed slightly from state to state. But in two states, Lagos and Bayelsa, the Workers’ Day celebrations threw up some unsavoury tales.  In Lagos state, I was concerned over the appeal of pregnant workers who called on the government to prevail on the striking doctors to go back to their business of saving lives.

The importance of doctors in the health sector cannot be glossed over. But, it appears that the value of human life has so diminished in the estimation of some of them that they could afford to always embark on strike action and watch their patients die because one government or the other had reneged on a certain agreement.

This negative attitude towards the sanctity of human life should be reviewed, even as they press for their demands, there is need to maintain skeletal services which would endear them more to the public and help in understanding their demands than outright abandonment of their duty posts to the detriment of helpless patient.

Lagos is the nerve-centre of economic activities in Nigeria, and a place where citizens from every conceivable part of the country, nay the world converge for various socio-economic activities.

Hence, Lagos State occupies a special place in the socio-political calculations of Nigeria to the extent that the government is not expected to allow social services, like medicare to fail.

But, whether it was informed by politics or the need to safeguard the environment, I was surprised when I learnt that the same Lagos State government now groaning under medical doctors strike is sure to demolish a Federal Medical Centre, somewhere at Igbogbo, Ikorodu axis. If it is true that the exercise is aimed at tackling the problem of flood in the area as claimed by the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, one may well ask if the Ministry was created after the siting of the hospital there, only for the project to be marked for demolition after public funds had been expended on it.

The case of Bayelsa is different. I could not but sympathise with Governor Seriake Dickson over his resolve to tackle fraudulent practices in his state head on. Bayelsa State was created from the old Rivers State by the Abacha regime in 1996 in order to give people from the area more political space and quicken development.

But since its creation, though some giant development strides have been recorded in the largely inaccessible oil rich region, echoes of corruption oozing from the state does not give one cause for cheer.

So, when Governor Dickson gave indiction that he would put up a spirited fight against those who collected salaries from more than one pay point, I thumped my hand for him.

The pity, though is, except he wishes to recruit a brand new civil service, he would sooner realize that he has a daunting task ahead of him. But the governor should be encouraged not to give up in view of the poor leadership which had bedeviled the state in the past.

The point is that Dickson must be wary of even his appointees as some may have tasted the forbidden fruit of corruption involving so much state funds that dislodging them would be as herculean as dislodging the petroleum products subsidy cabal which currently gives the federal government as much  headache as the Boko Haram sustained harassment of innocent Nigerians.

All said, my heart goes to the pregnant workers in Lagos State who may by now be confused, as the strike embarked upon by doctors seem to be taking a dangerous turn following government resolve to employ new doctors, since Governor Raji Fashola, SAN, seems to have sworn that the demands of the striking doctors could never be met.