STANCE-TAKING IN SELECTED TELEVISION INTERVIEWS ON THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATION OF THE NEW MINIMUM WAGE

Abstract

This study examined the stance-taking strategies employed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Federal Government (FG) during their televised interviews on the 2024 minimum wage negotiations. While existing literature has addressed the economic, historical, and political dimensions of wage negotiations in Nigeria, limited attention has been paid to the linguistic resources and pragmatic stances adopted by the social actors involved. Drawing insights from Biber and Finegan's (2000) Stance Theory and Hyland's (2005) Stance Model, this study investigated how epistemic, attitudinal, and interpersonal stances are constructed through language in televised media engagements. The data comprises ten interviews sourced from Arise News and Channels TV, featuring key representatives of the NLC and FG. Findings reveal that both parties employed a range of linguistic markers, including modal verbs, evaluative adjectives, metaphors, and pronouns, to express certainty, negotiate power relations, and influence public perception. The stance not only reflects ideological commitments but also functions as a tool for persuasion, legitimation, and resistance within the broader socio-political context of labour relations in Nigeria. The study concludes that televised interviews serve as strategic sites for the articulation of ideological positions and that stance-taking remains central to discourse construction in contentious negotiations.