Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC has split into two, parading two presidents following a separate election yesterday in Lagos, that produced Comrade Joe Ajaero of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, as a parallel president by 23 aggrieved affiliates of the Congress.
It will be recalled that Comrade Ayuba Wabba of the Medical and Health Workers of Nigeria, MHWUN, was on Saturday Morning in Abuja, declared winner of the March 12 rescheduled election of NLC, which the 23 affiliated unions rejected claiming that it was manipulated to ensure that certain individuals were elected.
The Ajaero-led group had earlier scheduled a special delegates’ conference for this weekend, but had to hold the conference yesterday because of what organizers described as exigencies of the time.
Two Deputy Presidents were equally elected. They are Comrades Igwe Achese and Issa Aremu of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN.
Among others elected into other positions were, Comrade Kasumu Kadiri of the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria, SEWUN, Kelly Ogbaloi of National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees, NUSDE, and Yashi Yahaya of National Union of Civil Service Secretariat and Stenographic as Vice President.
Chairman of the five-man special Delegates Conference Committee, Comrade Peter Balogun, told the delegates that as at the time of the meeting all nominated positions were unopposed following a motion that was moved and seconded for confirmation of all the nominated officers as duly elected.
As at today, out of the 43 affiliates of NLC, Ayuba Wabba who was elected President in the March 12, rescheduled election in Abuja, is leading about 18 affiliates of NLC while Joe Ajaero, who was elected president in a separate election yesterday in Lagos, is leading about 23 affiliates.
Two unions, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN and Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, can be said to be neutral as at now.
Reacting to the election of a parallel officers to run the NLC, General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said “these are criminal acts. They cannot forge our letter head to write or issue directives. The constitution is clear on who calls for a conference. I do not want to be dragged into this issue. I think it is shameful”
Efforts to reach Comrade Ayuba Wabba, were unsuccessful. Several calls put across to his Cell phone were not responded to. Even test message sent to him was not responded to at the time of this report.
NLC crisis in perspective
Since the emergence of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, after the restructuring of trade unions through Decree 22 of 1978 by the government of then General Olusegun Obasanjo, this is the second time NLC would split into two.
The first was in 1988, when the NLC split at its conference held at Saidi Centre in Benin Edo State, producing the Takaya Shammag and the Chiroma factions.
The factions were divided along ideological lines of the “ Democrats and Progressives” respectively
But the present crisis was not based on ideological differences as only the gladiators can explain.
Issues of Account
The untidy way the account of NLC was presented at the botched conference also created tension as the controversial Kriston-Lally Housing scam was not addressed by the Treasurer.
When the Trustee, Comrade Achese, raised the matter claiming that over N2.6 billion was unaccounted for in the Treasurer report, he was shouted down.
Formidable faction
Today, the Ajaero led NLC appears to be more formidable judging by the number of the affiliates controlled by the factions.
Implications
The obvious implication is that government may be forced through the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, to dissolve the leadership of the NLC and appoint a sole administrator or a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the NLC.
When this happens, there may be investigations into the running of the finances of the Congress and other activities.
There is a school of thought which holds the view that government is happy with a divided NLC and will wait for a while to allow the division deepen before acting because it pays government and even the employers to have a divided or fragmented NLC.
Meanwhile, in his acceptance speech, Ajaero, lamented that the powers and influence of NLC in terms of the defense of workers right and being the Chat212 of the poor and the oppressed in our country had been at its lowest level in the last four years under the failed leadership of Comrade Abdulwaheed Umar.
According to him, “the Abdulwaheed Umar leadership had fed significantly on the euphoria of the extra ordinary performance of the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole between 1999 and 2007. Unfortunately that momentum could not be sustained as NLC under Umar lost focus, direction, discipline, sense of duty and commitment to the cause of the working people as manifested in the following area of increased numbers of job losses without union protection and increased casual/ contract employment even in the presence ineffectual and prostrate anti casualisation committee led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba and failure to ensure the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage and general lack of interest on critical issues affecting workers
“It is even more disheartening, that NLC Leadership under Comrade Abdulwaheed Umar failed not only on core labour/workers issues but also lost its basic moral compass completely as manifested in the case of KRISTON LALLY Housing scam in which over Three Billion Naira mopped up from hapless working and retired people was unaccounted for, leaving the subscribers disillusioned and utterly frustrated.
Naturally the Nigeria working people and the affiliates of NLC had looked forward to the great opportunity that the National Delegates Conference offers for change and revival. That was the spirit that informed our expectations and indeed the Nigeria working people’s preparation towards the botched delegate conference. Regrettably, our collective hope and aspiration for a genuine, fair, transparent and credible electoral process was dashed due to the inordinate ambition and desperation of the outgoing president and the Treasurer to cover their tracks and ensure the continued crude violation of our core values and principles.
“It was this desperation to cover up their tracks that made them to pervert the rules and the processes that culminated in the failure of the Conference of February 11 and the reconvened one of March 12, 2014. We have previously highlighted these lapses, these include: Unacceptable disregard for rules and regulations in the electoral, election, changing of rules midway into the elections, unfair validation of invalid ballot papers contrary to the rules.
Scandalous deficit of basic electoral materials and archaic usage of beads as counting device leading to prolong, frustrating and fraudulent delay of counting up to eighteen hours of just 3119 ballot papers. It is very obvious now that this flawed process was originally intended and deliberately manipulated to impose a particular candidate on the Nigeria Labour Congress in the face of glaring leadership failure, moral decadence and crude violation of union principles, rules and constitution. This is and should be unacceptable to every conscious and principled trade union activists.
“For us it is not about lamentation over failed leadership and failed conference but to stand up collectively to retrieve our movement from the jackals and restore the cherished traditions and core values of our movement. This is what we stand for and this is what should unite all of us.
The challenges are enormous but we have resolved to put all our energies and resources into rebuilding the NLC as a vibrant labour centre that is driven by the aspirations of the working people and enjoy the confidence and support of affiliates, the public, the civil society organizations and the international working class movement. It is imperative for all us to be vigilant and remain committed to this noble cause. Indeed, this is the time to restore the belief and confidence of the working people in the Nigeria Labour Congress as the bastion of hope for the masses and as the strong voice for the voiceless people.
“We therefore call on you all to remain focus and committed to the lofty but attainable goal of restoring and reclaiming all lost grounds. Our movement should and must be responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of not only members/affiliates but must always provide alternative socio/political and economic policy framework that will help to galvanise increased productivity and shared prosperity for the mass of our people.
In this direction we reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining as enshrined in our constitution and labour laws and explicitly supported by ILO conventions 87 and 98. Therefore we will assert the right of the worker to join the union and ensure that no employer obstructs and deny Nigerian workers their inalienable rights.
“It is disturbing and worrisome, that for four years, Comrade Ayuba Wabba led committee on anti casualisation only paid lip services to the plight of millions of casual and contract workers who are on daily basis subjected to prolong hours of work, poor pay, unsafe working environment, job insecurity and harassment. Our fight against casual, contract and other forms of unfair labour practices will be hinged on our determination to at all times stand to defend the rights of workers.”
The origin of this latest crisis can be traced to alleged betrayal of private sector unions by their public sector unions where it alleged that there was an agreement by both sectors that the private sector unions should produce the next President of NLC since the outgoing president Abdulwaheed Omar, of NUT was from the public sector.
Before Omar, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, was from the private sector.
It was alleged that all the affiliates of NLC attended the meetings especially the last one held in Lagos where positions were shared and presidency ceded to the Private sector.
It was equally alleged that Wabba participated in the meeting and contributed a huge sum of money for the smooth process of what was calledthe Unity Forum which was midwifing the meeting between the two sectors.
Some had claimed that it was the inability of the private sector to present a common candidate that forced the public sector to field a candidate for the presidency.
However, this argument was dismissed by leaders of the private sector union who argued that in 2007 , the post was left for two candidates from the public sector to contest.
They were Omar of NUT and Fidelix Edeh of Nigeria Civil Service Union.
Never the less, Wabba had long denied the existence of any agreement between the private and public sectors union.
Increasingly, the division began to be noticeable ahead of the botched February election even ethnic, tribal and sectional sentiments were being played.
Specifically, MHWUN and NSCU were accused of taking only delegates from the north to the conference.
There were several protests in South east and Abuja against MHWUN and NCSU alleged lopsided delegates to no avail.
The Ajaero-led group had earlier scheduled a special delegates’ conference for this weekend, but had to hold the conference yesterday because of what organizers described as exigencies of the time.
Two Deputy Presidents were equally elected. They are Comrades Igwe Achese and Issa Aremu of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN.
Among others elected into other positions were, Comrade Kasumu Kadiri of the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria, SEWUN, Kelly Ogbaloi of National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees, NUSDE, and Yashi Yahaya of National Union of Civil Service Secretariat and Stenographic as Vice President.
Chairman of the five-man special Delegates Conference Committee, Comrade Peter Balogun, told the delegates that as at the time of the meeting all nominated positions were unopposed following a motion that was moved and seconded for confirmation of all the nominated officers as duly elected.
As at today, out of the 43 affiliates of NLC, Ayuba Wabba who was elected President in the March 12, rescheduled election in Abuja, is leading about 18 affiliates of NLC while Joe Ajaero, who was elected president in a separate election yesterday in Lagos, is leading about 23 affiliates.
Two unions, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN and Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, can be said to be neutral as at now.
Reacting to the election of a parallel officers to run the NLC, General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said “these are criminal acts. They cannot forge our letter head to write or issue directives. The constitution is clear on who calls for a conference. I do not want to be dragged into this issue. I think it is shameful”
Efforts to reach Comrade Ayuba Wabba, were unsuccessful. Several calls put across to his Cell phone were not responded to. Even test message sent to him was not responded to at the time of this report.
NLC crisis in perspective
Since the emergence of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, after the restructuring of trade unions through Decree 22 of 1978 by the government of then General Olusegun Obasanjo, this is the second time NLC would split into two.
The first was in 1988, when the NLC split at its conference held at Saidi Centre in Benin Edo State, producing the Takaya Shammag and the Chiroma factions.
The factions were divided along ideological lines of the “ Democrats and Progressives” respectively
But the present crisis was not based on ideological differences as only the gladiators can explain.
Issues of Account
The untidy way the account of NLC was presented at the botched conference also created tension as the controversial Kriston-Lally Housing scam was not addressed by the Treasurer.
When the Trustee, Comrade Achese, raised the matter claiming that over N2.6 billion was unaccounted for in the Treasurer report, he was shouted down.
Formidable faction
Today, the Ajaero led NLC appears to be more formidable judging by the number of the affiliates controlled by the factions.
Implications
The obvious implication is that government may be forced through the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, to dissolve the leadership of the NLC and appoint a sole administrator or a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the NLC.
When this happens, there may be investigations into the running of the finances of the Congress and other activities.
There is a school of thought which holds the view that government is happy with a divided NLC and will wait for a while to allow the division deepen before acting because it pays government and even the employers to have a divided or fragmented NLC.
Meanwhile, in his acceptance speech, Ajaero, lamented that the powers and influence of NLC in terms of the defense of workers right and being the Chat212 of the poor and the oppressed in our country had been at its lowest level in the last four years under the failed leadership of Comrade Abdulwaheed Umar.
According to him, “the Abdulwaheed Umar leadership had fed significantly on the euphoria of the extra ordinary performance of the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole between 1999 and 2007. Unfortunately that momentum could not be sustained as NLC under Umar lost focus, direction, discipline, sense of duty and commitment to the cause of the working people as manifested in the following area of increased numbers of job losses without union protection and increased casual/ contract employment even in the presence ineffectual and prostrate anti casualisation committee led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba and failure to ensure the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage and general lack of interest on critical issues affecting workers
“It is even more disheartening, that NLC Leadership under Comrade Abdulwaheed Umar failed not only on core labour/workers issues but also lost its basic moral compass completely as manifested in the case of KRISTON LALLY Housing scam in which over Three Billion Naira mopped up from hapless working and retired people was unaccounted for, leaving the subscribers disillusioned and utterly frustrated.
Naturally the Nigeria working people and the affiliates of NLC had looked forward to the great opportunity that the National Delegates Conference offers for change and revival. That was the spirit that informed our expectations and indeed the Nigeria working people’s preparation towards the botched delegate conference. Regrettably, our collective hope and aspiration for a genuine, fair, transparent and credible electoral process was dashed due to the inordinate ambition and desperation of the outgoing president and the Treasurer to cover their tracks and ensure the continued crude violation of our core values and principles.
“It was this desperation to cover up their tracks that made them to pervert the rules and the processes that culminated in the failure of the Conference of February 11 and the reconvened one of March 12, 2014. We have previously highlighted these lapses, these include: Unacceptable disregard for rules and regulations in the electoral, election, changing of rules midway into the elections, unfair validation of invalid ballot papers contrary to the rules.
Scandalous deficit of basic electoral materials and archaic usage of beads as counting device leading to prolong, frustrating and fraudulent delay of counting up to eighteen hours of just 3119 ballot papers. It is very obvious now that this flawed process was originally intended and deliberately manipulated to impose a particular candidate on the Nigeria Labour Congress in the face of glaring leadership failure, moral decadence and crude violation of union principles, rules and constitution. This is and should be unacceptable to every conscious and principled trade union activists.
“For us it is not about lamentation over failed leadership and failed conference but to stand up collectively to retrieve our movement from the jackals and restore the cherished traditions and core values of our movement. This is what we stand for and this is what should unite all of us.
The challenges are enormous but we have resolved to put all our energies and resources into rebuilding the NLC as a vibrant labour centre that is driven by the aspirations of the working people and enjoy the confidence and support of affiliates, the public, the civil society organizations and the international working class movement. It is imperative for all us to be vigilant and remain committed to this noble cause. Indeed, this is the time to restore the belief and confidence of the working people in the Nigeria Labour Congress as the bastion of hope for the masses and as the strong voice for the voiceless people.
“We therefore call on you all to remain focus and committed to the lofty but attainable goal of restoring and reclaiming all lost grounds. Our movement should and must be responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of not only members/affiliates but must always provide alternative socio/political and economic policy framework that will help to galvanise increased productivity and shared prosperity for the mass of our people.
In this direction we reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining as enshrined in our constitution and labour laws and explicitly supported by ILO conventions 87 and 98. Therefore we will assert the right of the worker to join the union and ensure that no employer obstructs and deny Nigerian workers their inalienable rights.
“It is disturbing and worrisome, that for four years, Comrade Ayuba Wabba led committee on anti casualisation only paid lip services to the plight of millions of casual and contract workers who are on daily basis subjected to prolong hours of work, poor pay, unsafe working environment, job insecurity and harassment. Our fight against casual, contract and other forms of unfair labour practices will be hinged on our determination to at all times stand to defend the rights of workers.”
The origin of this latest crisis can be traced to alleged betrayal of private sector unions by their public sector unions where it alleged that there was an agreement by both sectors that the private sector unions should produce the next President of NLC since the outgoing president Abdulwaheed Omar, of NUT was from the public sector.
Before Omar, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, was from the private sector.
It was alleged that all the affiliates of NLC attended the meetings especially the last one held in Lagos where positions were shared and presidency ceded to the Private sector.
It was equally alleged that Wabba participated in the meeting and contributed a huge sum of money for the smooth process of what was calledthe Unity Forum which was midwifing the meeting between the two sectors.
Some had claimed that it was the inability of the private sector to present a common candidate that forced the public sector to field a candidate for the presidency.
However, this argument was dismissed by leaders of the private sector union who argued that in 2007 , the post was left for two candidates from the public sector to contest.
They were Omar of NUT and Fidelix Edeh of Nigeria Civil Service Union.
Never the less, Wabba had long denied the existence of any agreement between the private and public sectors union.
Increasingly, the division began to be noticeable ahead of the botched February election even ethnic, tribal and sectional sentiments were being played.
Specifically, MHWUN and NSCU were accused of taking only delegates from the north to the conference.
There were several protests in South east and Abuja against MHWUN and NCSU alleged lopsided delegates to no avail.
