Over 600 construction workers on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project downed tools on Wednesday over sudden pay cuts and harsh conditions. The strike brought heavy earth-moving equipment and earthworks to a complete standstill across key construction yards in Cross River State. Discontent had brewed for weeks before workers abandoned their posts, citing unpaid entitlements and arbitrary wage reductions by Hitech Construction Company.
Disgruntled staff accused site managers of slashing baseline daily pay despite demanding gruelling day and night shifts. Female workers highlighted glaring structural neglect at construction sites, noting a complete absence of separate restroom facilities for women. Striking crews also accused foreign site managers of illegally selling off scrap building materials that were traditionally shared among staff to offset low wages.
Tensions mounted further when project managers rejected the official State Liaison Officer, Asuquo Ukpayang, imposing their own preferred community representative instead. Ukpayang subsequently backed the striking workforce, confirming systemic wage deductions and unaddressed safety complaints across multiple construction sites. He revealed that state officials had previously urged Hitech executives to improve worker welfare and uphold basic labour standards without success.
Labour disputes on flagship infrastructure projects undermine government efforts to demonstrate swift economic progress in the Niger Delta region. The Federal Ministry of Works faces mounting pressure to intervene directly before worker unrest spreads to adjoining construction sections. Hitech Construction Company now faces a severe project backlog as site operations remain paralysed indefinitely.
Contractors regularly exploit cheap local labour to protect profit margins on large civil engineering projects across the country. Poor regulatory oversight leaves site workers without basic legal protections, clean water, or proper sanitation during heavy construction shifts. When corporate management ignores peaceful grievance channels, desperate workers inevitably use wildcat strikes to force compliance.
Union delegates pledged to maintain their industrial action until Hitech management restores full wages and settles all outstanding allowances. Government mediators are arranging urgent talks involving the Federal Controller of Works to resolve the deadlock and resume highway construction. The strike proves that megaprojects cannot succeed when contractors treat essential construction crews as disposable labour.