Former NLC president, Ali Ciroma is dead

Ali Ciroma, the former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, has died.

Ciroma died on Tuesday at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Ali Ibrahim Ciroma, a family member and the Secretary of the Borno State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, reported the unionist’s death in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The announcement reads: “It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Comrade Ali Ciroma, former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

“A terrible tragedy occurred this evening (Tuesday, April 2) at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

“The burial for the repose of the deceased will be held tomorrow Wednesday 4pm at the residence of the deceased No.7A along Galadima Road near Muhammadu Shuwa Memorial Hospital (Nursing Home), Maiduguri.”

Ciroma was president of the NLC from 1984 to 1988 before being deposed by Gen Ibrahim Babangida’s military regime, which abolished the organization. However, during the Abacha dictatorship, he was reintroduced into the world of unionism, serving as the only administrator of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.