The Nigeria Labor Congress NLC has accused the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and the World Bank of worsening poverty and undermining development in Nigeria.
The NLC is also asking the IMF and World Bank to stop lending money to unaccountable leaders, Nigeria inclusive, urging them to stop imposing blanket austerity measures on developing nations.
President of NLC, Joe Ajaero who stated this in Washington DC over the weelend, also told the global financial institutions how their economic prescriptions over the years have continued to worsen poverty and undermine Nigeria’s development.
As of February 21, 2025, Nigeria’s total outstanding credit from the IMF was $306,812,500.
Nigeria has also received significant loans from the World Bank, including $2.25 billion in 2024.
A breakdown of World Bank loans in Nigeria include;
Nigeria Reforms for Economic Stabilization to Enable Transformation (RESET): $1.5 billion,
Nigeria Accelerating Resource Mobilization Reforms (ARMOR): $750 million,
Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program (HOPE-PHC): $570 million.
Others are, Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project (SPIN): $500 million, meant to improve dam safety and irrigation and the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE): $700 million.
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But, the Nigeria Labor Congress President, Joe Ajaero, who spoke at the 2025 high-level meeting of the global labour movement, the IMF and WB at the World Bank office in Washington DC, pleaded with the Brettonwoods institutions to stop imposing blanket austerity measures, but support developing nations in crafting progressive tax policies that protect the poor and vulnerable.
Ajaero argued that the citizens of Nigeria have not felt the impact of all these loans, warning that such loans only deepen the crisis of governance and push the nation further into the abyss of debt and underdevelopment.
In his presentation, titled “Progressive Taxation and Fiscal Consolidation,” Ajaero told his audience that the labour movement represents the voice of those who are marginalized and those who are supposed to benefit from taxation but who have unfortunately in many countries begun to suffer adversely from taxation.
Ajaero lashed out at the two global financial institions, saying the current global economic order, influenced heavily by institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, often perpetuates inequality rather than addressing it, adding that in many developing nations, including Nigeria, tax policies are regressive, placing a disproportionate burden on the poor while allowing the wealthy and multinational corporations to evade their fair share.
He argues further that it is not an accident but a systemic failure that demands urgent correction.
The labour leader told the IMF and World Bank that Nigeria in its proposed tax bills, plans to impose taxes on people who earn just N800,000 per annum or U$500, and if that is not a regressive tax proposal, nothing else is
(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)
