NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IN LITMUS TEST
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| COMRADE AYUBA WABBA NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF NLC |
The foregoing exhortations simply melted away into mere platitudes where opposing vested interests swooped on the venue of the conference each brandishing or flaunting its own war machine it wishes to rely upon to capture power of the organization on a winner takes all basis to the detriment of the preferred consensual option. Unfortunately when competition assumes the winner takes all dimension, reason and rationality takes flight. And in this connection the outsmarted party more often than not will naturally find it difficult to concede defeat. Again, more unfortunately, if care is not taken "egotism" will step in making each of the parties to consolidate and become more and more uncompromising.
I have deliberately decided to apply this analytical preamble in order to shed more light on the instant problem of the Nigeria Labour Congress delegates’ conference that has ended up into factions, even as the aggrieved party are yet to articulate their status that they promise to come up with shortly. We have noted the promise made Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who got finally elected at the conference, that he was going all out to fashion out settlement with the aggrieved parties. That is fair enough and every man or woman of goodwill owes it a duty to chorus ‘so may it be!’ as we wait with bated enthusiasm.
The problem that dispassionate observers now have is that where we have now gotten up to in this matter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, is exactly where we have been before. And we remember that it can be very, very painful an energy sapping indeed. It is not the matter of unto whose court the ball is played into right now. The way I see it is that the way forward in order to salvage the good name of the NLC and the country is to adopt the spirit of no victor no vanquished. And I mean that in word and fact. Meanwhile, this time offers itself as the golden opportunity for the NLC systems to be thoroughly sanitized such that all vestiges of impunity are expunged from its corporate boday once and for all. If impunity is not killed in the NLC, then impunity will most certainly kill NLC, it is a matter of choice.
For example the Trade Union Act (ChapterT14) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under THIRD SCHEDULE, PART A, established the Industrial Unions that are approved as affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress and listed the 29 (Twenty-Nine) of them and carefully detailing out their respective industrial jurisdictions. It is as simple as that – the legitimate and lawful affiliates of the NLC are 29, no more no less. All citizens are enjoined to obey and respect the law of their country. To do otherwise is in violation of the law of the land. But the same law under (PART C) established 45 Senior Staff and Employers’ Associations that were clearly excluded from membership of the NLC for obvious reason; because conventionally Senior Staff is defined as "a projection of management", deriving from ILO International Standard Classification of Occupation that Nigeria has ratified. Luckily, an organization that caters for the interest of the Senior Staff, known and called Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN) now exists and duly registered as such. Now, there is no practical reason whatsoever why ASUU and the rest 9 or 10 Senior Staff Associations that are now literally imposing themselves on the NLC cannot just go and take membership where they properly belong. The importance of resolving this matter sooner than later assumes a sense of urgency when it is borne in mind that an election petitioner might claim that his constitutional right has been infringed simply by the participation by these apparent alien entities.
And apart from the senior staff entities there are some few other entities that can at best be described as craft unions that have for some inexplicable reasons found their names in the register of the NLC. These too have to be expunged immediately; because an organization, like the Nigeria Labour Congress that is a creation of the law can ill-afford to violate the provisions of the law. The litmus test for Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the newly elected President of the NLC, therefore, is whether to do the needful in order to be law compliant and boost the image of the organization as a law-abiding corporate citizen of Nigeria, with the attendant respect and honour of all men and women of goodwill throughout the land; or to continue with the way of impunity that is the remote cause of the current difficulties. Will he work to mend fences with his aggrieved comrades for the greater good of the Nigerian Labour Movement; or will he seek to damn the consequences and dare the aggrieved ones, while at the same time tightening his grip on the leverage of power at the Labour House, time will tell. By any standard the observation of trends in the Nigeria Labour Congress in the next couple of weeks or so promises to be a very testy pastime.
The problem that dispassionate observers now have is that where we have now gotten up to in this matter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, is exactly where we have been before. And we remember that it can be very, very painful an energy sapping indeed. It is not the matter of unto whose court the ball is played into right now. The way I see it is that the way forward in order to salvage the good name of the NLC and the country is to adopt the spirit of no victor no vanquished. And I mean that in word and fact. Meanwhile, this time offers itself as the golden opportunity for the NLC systems to be thoroughly sanitized such that all vestiges of impunity are expunged from its corporate boday once and for all. If impunity is not killed in the NLC, then impunity will most certainly kill NLC, it is a matter of choice.
For example the Trade Union Act (ChapterT14) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under THIRD SCHEDULE, PART A, established the Industrial Unions that are approved as affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress and listed the 29 (Twenty-Nine) of them and carefully detailing out their respective industrial jurisdictions. It is as simple as that – the legitimate and lawful affiliates of the NLC are 29, no more no less. All citizens are enjoined to obey and respect the law of their country. To do otherwise is in violation of the law of the land. But the same law under (PART C) established 45 Senior Staff and Employers’ Associations that were clearly excluded from membership of the NLC for obvious reason; because conventionally Senior Staff is defined as "a projection of management", deriving from ILO International Standard Classification of Occupation that Nigeria has ratified. Luckily, an organization that caters for the interest of the Senior Staff, known and called Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN) now exists and duly registered as such. Now, there is no practical reason whatsoever why ASUU and the rest 9 or 10 Senior Staff Associations that are now literally imposing themselves on the NLC cannot just go and take membership where they properly belong. The importance of resolving this matter sooner than later assumes a sense of urgency when it is borne in mind that an election petitioner might claim that his constitutional right has been infringed simply by the participation by these apparent alien entities.
And apart from the senior staff entities there are some few other entities that can at best be described as craft unions that have for some inexplicable reasons found their names in the register of the NLC. These too have to be expunged immediately; because an organization, like the Nigeria Labour Congress that is a creation of the law can ill-afford to violate the provisions of the law. The litmus test for Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the newly elected President of the NLC, therefore, is whether to do the needful in order to be law compliant and boost the image of the organization as a law-abiding corporate citizen of Nigeria, with the attendant respect and honour of all men and women of goodwill throughout the land; or to continue with the way of impunity that is the remote cause of the current difficulties. Will he work to mend fences with his aggrieved comrades for the greater good of the Nigerian Labour Movement; or will he seek to damn the consequences and dare the aggrieved ones, while at the same time tightening his grip on the leverage of power at the Labour House, time will tell. By any standard the observation of trends in the Nigeria Labour Congress in the next couple of weeks or so promises to be a very testy pastime.
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A LAMENTATION ON NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS
A LAMENTATION ON NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS
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| NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS LOGO |
Most recent developments in the Nigerian Labour Movement has suddenly sparked off a renewed attention on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the premier labour centre in the country, demanding of a critical assessment of the status of the organization in the country after 37 years of its existence, which we will proceed herein to execute most dispassionately. And in this connection it is never to be forgotten that the central labour organization is the creation by its affiliated trade unions for purposes of helping to actualize their collective objectives. This in turn demands the proper understanding of what a trade union is and what its objectives are.
Put simply, a Trade Union is defined as "A voluntary, democratic association of employees formed by them to protect and improve their incomes and working conditions and promote their common interest through collective bargaining with their employer or employer organization. A trade union may be a Company Union that represents the interests of only one company and may not have any connection with other companies. In Nigeria today, what we have are Industrial Unions, i.e. Industry wide, and for which purpose the country’s economy is divided into 29 separate industrial sectors each of which is assigned to the jurisdiction of an Industrial Union".
But definitions tend only to be just a paraphrase of the aims and objectives of the Union, that is set out more elaborately in the Aims and Objects section of the Union’s Constitution, an example of which include for the core area of interest: (1) Proper mobilization and organization of its members; (2) Regulation of relations between workmen and the employer and between workmen and workmen; (3) Establishment and maintenance of just and proper hours of work, salary/wages and other conditions of service; (4) Provision of benefits and other assistance to the members as provided in the constitution; (5) Encouragement of workers participation in decision making at industry level.
And contemporary Trade Union Constitutions now contain under Aims and Objects such items as (1) Establishment and maintenance of a high standard of workmanship and professional practice; (2) Advancement of education and training of workers through participation in the business of publishing letter, books, pamphlets or other forms of literature in the interest of the members with the main purpose of furthering the enlightenment of members of the Union and working class generally; (3) Protection and advancement of the socio-economic and cultural interest of workers, the union and trade unionism in general; (4) Investment of the Union’s fund in business activities calculated to improve the financial position of the Union and members’ welfare programmes; and (5) To engage in activities that are designed to promote the wider association of workers by fraternizing, collaborating and affiliating with trade union organizations. The aims of which may assist the Union in the attainment of its own objectives and the advancement of the wider interest of the Union and labour in general.
When therefore more than one Industrial Union combine to form a Central Labour Organization it is a direct affirmation of their acknowledgement or recognition that they are aware that there is need for them to pool their human and material resources for a better and easier actualization of the aims and objects that they have separately set out for themselves. In the case of Nigeria there are 29 of such officially approved by law and duly gazetted Industrial Union affiliates of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Now, the question is: in these past 37 years of its existence, how has the NLC fared in its responsibility of helping the 29 affiliated Industrial Unions to fulfill their set out Aims and Objects as enunciated in the foregoing paragraphs?
And the verdict is shocking. Although it was established in 1978, it waited until the year 2007 before it published its first and only manifesto style 48 page Policy Document, made up mainly of platitudes relating to ways and means it will approach the task of serving the interest of the Nigerian Labour Movement and its teaming members. And a visit to the organization’s website can only leave you bemused when you discover that there was not even an iota of pretention to show that effort has been made at one time or the other to justify its existence before the Nigerian workers, which can only be demonstrated through the quantity and quality of research papers, documentaries, advisory flyers, and Information tracts from which affiliated Industrial Unions can draw inspiration and guidelines towards engaging tasks before them.
Enquiries as to other sources from where the affiliates could obtain helpful materials to foster the resolution of their challenges pulled negative. Now, against the backdrop of the huge financial subsidy that has come its way from the Federal Government, right from its inception in addition to monthly dues that has been made compulsory from its affiliated unions, the past and present leadership of the organization do not have any excuse for their poor performance. There is virtually nothing you can point at to be the accomplishment of the NLC towards the edification of the Nigerian Labour Movement and the Nigerian Workers. No Education or Industrial Relations Research Works from where affiliated Industrial Unions could draw inspiration or practical knowledge from relating to How-To-Approach a whole gamut of Industrial Relations challenges facing the unions in contemporary societies. Just nothing, prompting the question as to what then have they been doing with the huge sums that have come their way these past 37 years?
The building that housed the national secretariat of the Congress at Alojuwon Street, Yaba, Lagos was started by a foreign labour organization and was completed and furnished by the Federal Government. The same government gave the Congress a take-off grant of one million naira. Several of such grants have continued to be made by the Federal Government towards the running of the congress, in addition to the dues collected from its affiliates. Furthermore, the same government has provided the Congress with an ultramodern multi-storey building at Abuja where it now operates from. The Government did not stop there. They went ahead and provided the leadership of the Congress with capital and mass transit buses to assist the Congress to intervene vigorously in the area of making life better for the workers, which they ran aground in no time.
But as if these chains of embarrassment was not enough Congress leaders went cap in hand to the Government for grants, according to them to establish cooperative warehouses, against entreaties that that would amount to building a house from the top. Government obliged, anyway, yet not a single warehouse has been established to date. And you can go on and on! What this has shown vividly is that the problem of the Nigeria Labour Congress is not about lack of funds but of acute shortage of ideas and management acumen. It is all about the orientation and the attitude of the leadership. An example of which was made manifest recently when the leadership took a decision and ferried the whole national executive council members to Dubai in the United Arab Emirate for a retreat! But you see, they fiercely defended it because they really do not see anything wrong in it.
Some pundits have suggested that the root cause of the problem lies in the lack of proper type of education on the part of the leadership; in which point there may be some credence. But the type of education we are talking about here is not offered in any tertiary institution. It is the type of education that only trade union organizations themselves do run deliberately for the perpetuation of the philosophy of trade unionism. These types of training programmes abound in Europe and America; of which if the NLC had wanted hundreds of its rank and file members would have been drafted into such programmes and the Labour Movement would have been better for it by now. Unfortunately, many people in our country today do have the impression that just anybody can be a good trade unionist. Trade unionism is not a profession but a vocation. You have to first of all have the calling, then you like it and then finally you strongly believe in the crusade that it is made of.
In our glorious world today that is deemed a global village the NLC leadership cannot claim that they are not aware of what the Central Labour Organizations the world over are doing to create better life for their members: like the DGB the Labour Centre in Germany that runs one of the biggest banks in that country, where a worker can approach the bank with his union membership card and he can pick up a loan across the counter for his need; or the Histadrut (Labour Centre) of Israel that is literally running a thriving workers economy in the country through its famous cooperative movement; or the case of the massive contributions being made by the labour centres in the Scandinavian Countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in the area of socio-economic development, cooperatives and adult education. After all, they say that education is a copy cat affair. Therefore the way forward is for the NLC leadership to go out and learn from others the ways and means and come back home to implement our own version.
It can only be hoped now, that somewhere along the line, the Congress shall be rescued from this horrendous drift, and restored to its original conceived glory. For the avoidance of any doubt, this commentary is not designed as a condemnation, but a reproof by one of the surviving principal signatories to the historic Apena Cemetery Declaration on the 24th day of September, 1974 to serve as catalyst for change for the love of country and my compatriots, in the spirit of "what is worth doing at all is worth doing well". And in this connection all eyes will be on the new leadership that will emerge from the delegates’ conference of the NLC later this month.
