In the humid, West African heat, the workers of Lagos were fed up. Inflation was making everything expensive – the only thing that wasn’t rising was their wages.
This was all the fault of British colonizers. Something had to be done.
A group of Nigerian workers came together. They demanded the government to increase the minimum wage – but their demand was denied. So, to show they were not backing down, they gave the government an ultimatum: increase wages or there would be a strike!
A strike there was. It lasted all summer. The governmental leaders tried to appease the strikers at first by offering a very low increase in wages, but the workers denied it.
Then the government released a political leader in hopes to calm them – but as soon as Michael Imoudu was released, he became a leader in the strike himself!
The strike started in Lagos, but then spread all over the country. Nigerians had always had tribal divides – but this time they came together to defeat a common enemy.
And the strike worked! They got a respectable raise and no worker was fired for their participation in the labor struggle.
Nigerians were able to send a bold message to their colonizers. It was only possible because of their power in numbers – which should be a reminder to us on the strength of unity!