Nigerian workers and quest for socio-economic revival
- Being the 2016 May Day address by Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) at the May Day celebrations held at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
- For 35 years, our country has set aside this day to celebrate workers, articulate their predominant concerns and aspirations, demand for change and better working conditions and standard of living, and pay tribute to patriots who gave their all for this country. While the dignity of work has changed over time, the values that drive our brave and patriotic workers remain constant: honour, courage, selflessness.
- Those values forever live in the hearts of Nigerian workers. They live in every Nigerian who braves the challenges of estimated billings for electricity, the incessant fuel crisis and its attendant long queues at the filling stations, the poor infrastructure and death-trap roads that claim thousands of lives yearly, the impunity of governors who slash salaries at will, the unwarranted killings in Agatu, Benue State, the Boko Haram activities, unprecedented devaluation of the naira, the trauma of casualisation, outsourcing and mass sack/redundancy of workers, unemployment, poor healthcare facilities, import-based economy, etc.
- The theme of this year’s May Day celebration, “The Working Class and the Quest for Socio-Economic Revival,” is apt and timely when considered in the light of our peculiar challenges over the years and the need for us to make a paradigm shift as a nation. There is no doubting the fact that reasonable success has been made by the present administration, but there are yet more grounds to cover.
- Wherever I am chanced to speak I am quick to affirm that Nigeria is a great nation. The entire world acknowledges that fact. But many of our people have lost hope due to decades of rape of the national treasury by a privileged few. Yes we are a great nation, but greatness is never achieved on a gold platter. It is earned and must be consciously sustained. As a nation we are endowed with enormous natural resources yet grope in the darkness of poverty and underdevelopment. We produce crude oil but sleep at filling stations to buy the by-products therefrom.
- As we celebrate Workers day 2016, we must all resolve to put our acts together if we must revive our ailing nation.
- Workers’ contributions to National Development
- Organised labour’s contributions to national development are many. A former president once accused labour of forming a parallel government just because we challenged some of his administration’s unfruitful policies. Similarly we recently resisted the suggestion by lawmakers for government to make use of workers accumulated pension funds. We simply do not trust our politicians enough to permit such unwholesome risk.
- Much earlier, on the eve of 2015 presidential elections, we tasked the presidential candidates of the two leading political parties on their plans for workers in particular and Nigerians in general. We did that because we are tired of failed promises from politicians. Comrades, some ministers and governors are seriously failing us, and we shall not hesitate to vote them out in 2019. We may even demand record of their stewardship sooner than that. If magic is what we need to put things right this time, let it be.
- All we want is a country where companies can have access to foreign exchange to do worthwhile business, a country where the US dollar is at per with the naira, a country where the youths are gainfully employed, a country where the distribution of tricycles is not seen as the prime way to alleviate poverty, a country where starched monies in Dubai, US, UK and co. are all returned to boost our economy, etc. We deserve no less. We create the wealth of the nation and must have a strong say on how things are run.
- The labour movement has also been involved in national conferences and committees set up by governments at various levels to fashion out ways for the growth and development of the nation. We regularly canvass the views of workers on national and international issues. In that wise, during a courtesy visit to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, early this year, we raised issues related to the unwarranted increase in electricity tariff, upward review of the national minimum wage, resolving the lingering crisis in the health sector, need to settle arrears of allowances owed public servants by the federal government, need for payment of gratuities to retirees, strengthening the oil and gas industry, revival of the textile industry, boosting the construction industry, the anti-corruption war, job creation, and national security, amongst others.
- On the lingering economic challenges, the organised labour has also through our press releases and interviews in both print and electronic media, guided the government on some of the positive steps that need to be taken.
- THE ECONOMY
- The present federal administration is one year old. If it must succeed, it has to quickly take cogent steps towards righting the wrongs of the past. We note that the country is spending too much on governance at this time when the price of crude oil has nose-dived, while the rate of inflation has risen to 12.8 percent. It is also needful for government to commit resources to the enhancement of social infrastructure, human capital development and job creation to boost the economy.
- Your Excellency, Mr. President, distinguished guests and fellow comrades, the country is bleeding and there is no pretence about that. He who feels it knows it! The poor masses of the country feel it in all spheres, and only very close monitoring of the economy, commitment and sincerity of purpose constitute the way out. We must start generating significant increase in the income and development of the country. In as much as the present administration appears intent on fashioning out effective ways of checking wastage of our resources, they must decisively check unrepentant saboteurs who have continued to have a field day.
- The country needs massive infrastructural transformation to revive the economy. Unfortunately the massive theft of our oil, the scandalous incidence of money laundering, over-invoicing and double-invoicing of contracts, dumping of foreign goods, budget alterations, and politics of acrimony, etc. tend to frustrate that prospect. These activities must be curtailed immediately if the country must move forward. We charge the government’s economic team to do a better job of guiding the direction of the economy. To this end, we must reintroduce the concept of having periodic national development plans. There is need to chart long, medium and short-term goals, as is done in developed countries.
- Your Excellency, fellow comrades, the truth is Nigerians are presently in pains, and the pains can only be soothed when the leadership abhors unfriendly policies like those advocated by the Bretton Wood institutions, addresses naira depreciation issues, inflation, corruption, power outages, breach of collective agreements by employers, Boko Haram insurgency and ethno-religious violence, the unwarranted killings in Agatu by Fulani herdsmen, the kidnappings, collapse of socio-economic infrastructure including our existing refineries, roads, schools, and the drought of petroleum products, etc. We certainly do not need any soothsayer to tell us that the current slide in the global prices of oil would have less adverse effects on our economy if we refine our oil within our borders.
- The Civil Service
- It is common knowledge that the Civil Service is the engine room that oils the wheels of Government to ensure efficient and effective service delivery to the people. In this connection, it is very important that the Service is equipped with requisite tools to enhance productivity in addition to providing welfare packages to boost the morale of Civil Servants. Against this background, we call on the Federal Government to address the following Labour Issues in the interest of the Service.
- Recruitment of permanent secretaries from outside the civil service
- We wish to state that the recent appointment of Permanent Secretaries from outside the Civil Service contravened the relevant provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and is capable of doing collateral damage to the system. The ill-advised policy if not stopped now is capable of killing the morale of Senior Civil Servants who have served their fatherland meritoriously for decades because they can no longer aspire to rise to the peak of their career. The Federal Government should, therefore, discontinue the practice while those already recruited as Permanent Secretaries from outside the Civil Service particularly those of them that were already more than 60 years of age when they were appointed should be disengaged in the overall interest of the service.
- Illegal extension of the tenure of Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Jamila Shu’ara
- There is no gainsaying the fact that the illegal extension of the tenure of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Jamila Shu’ara for one year has continued to generate subdued anger in the Federal Civil Service. This extension apart from contravening Public Service Rule 020810 which stipulates clearly that retirement age in the civil service shall be 60-years of age or 35-years of pensionable service whichever is earlier is also creating a bad precedent.
- We understand that some other Permanent Secretaries who would soon retire are also warming up to apply for similar extension. If they do and Mr. President refuses to grant their requests, the impression will be created that Mrs. Shu’ara’s tenure extension was induced by primordial consideration and this will dent the reputation of Mr. President as a man of integrity. If on the other hand their requests are granted, it will make matters worse and the system will be the worst for it. We therefore believe that since Mrs Shua’ara has attained retirement age as stipulated by relevant sections of the Public Service Rules, Mr. President should work out a soft-landing arrangement for her exit from the Service.
- Need to settle promotion arrears in the public service
- We wish to call on the Federal Government to quickly settle all outstanding arrears owed civil/public servants some of which have remained unsettled since 2007 as soon as the budget is signed into Law. These includes but not limited to salary arrears, promotion arrears outstanding since 2007, 1st 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation, duty tour allowance, mandatory training allowance for 2010, burial expenses, repatriation allowance etc. We are worried that the sum provided for the settlement of these arrears under the Service Wide Vote in the 2016 Budget is inadequate and has even been slashed by N28.5 billion by the National Assembly.
- We therefore demand that the Federal Lawmakers should retrace their steps on this issue and approve what was voted for the outstanding benefits of Civil/Servants in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in the country. The Federal Government on its part should also as a matter of urgency prepare a supplementary budget to capture the balance indebtedness to Public Servants so that the matter can be put behind us.
- Governors and salaries of workers
- Nigeria’s labour law stipulates that workers should be paid as and when due. In fact workers are expected to be paid on or before the 22nd day of each month. Sometimes we wonder why workers should be owed when no political office holder is ever owed. New buildings, majority of which are owned by politicians and their cronies, spring up daily everywhere. Yet many governors want us to believe that they cannot afford to pay those who grind the ox that threads the corn.
- The problem of the state governments is that they are used to sharing money from the petro-dollar generated foreign reserve including that in the Excess Crude Account. Conversely, during the First Republic the Awos, Ziks, Balewas, Sardaunas of this world did excellently well in generating income from other sources. Their major source of revenue was just agriculture. They were concerned about the development of future generations and laid the necessary foundation for a prosperous Nigeria. The reverse is the case today as governors arbitrarily shirk their responsibilities to develop their states. The current insecure atmosphere is testimony to this fact.
- When this administration came on board, Mr. President magnanimously gave a bail out to these governors to enable them pay salaries. Unfortunately there has not been any difference between when the money was given to them and when it was not, and one is left to wonder what happened to the money. There is no part of the country that nature has not bequeathed much resources to, yet most state governments are in arrears in the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage to their workers. With the US dollar at N320 per dollar N18,000 wage is just $56.25, an amount that cannot adequately buy one week’s food for the governor’s dog. It is time for each governor to think out of the box or resign honourably.
- The anti-corruption war
- While we applaud this administration for its resolve to fight corruption, we insist that more work needs to be done with greater vigour and commitment. One way the menace can be tackled is by making the independence of the judiciary a reality in terms of budgetary allocations, as is the case with the executive and the legislature.
- In the same vein, just as appointment and promotion of judicial officers by the executive is on recommendation of the National Judicial Council, so also should the executive have no power to sack any judicial officer without the recommendation of the Council and/or the legislature. Similar policy should apply in the case of the Inspector General of Police, the Governor of the Central Bank, the chairmen of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), as well as other public officers whose official independence need to be protected by law if they are to perform their duties conscientiously without fear or favour.
- The two anti-graft bodies – the EFCC and the ICPC – should be strengthened. Indeed a comprehensive review of the anti-corruption laws and the body of laws relating to finance and the economy is highly recommended to make them meet the challenges of present-day Nigeria. Also, plea bargaining should not be available to persons indicted of corruption.
- It would also serve the nation well to have a law which not only requires public office holders to declare their assets on assuming office but also on leaving office. All such declarations should be published in the national dailies and not just to the Code of Conduct Bureau.
- THE CHIBOK GIRLS
- It is unfortunate that we have allowed partisan politics to divide us more than democracy has united us. Man has been able to produce virtually everything in the world except his fellow human being, yet he appears non-hesitant to destroy human beings. The Congress is burdened by the captivity of the Chibok girls, dismayed at the failure of the Nigerian state to provide security for our sons and daughters at their schools. Why majority of our leaders are playing politics with the lives of over 200 young girls we cannot tell. Or would they pay lip service to the issue if their own children were amongst those abducted girls? Would the girls not have been rescued by now?
- Your Excellency, need we say that the rescue or otherwise of the Chibok girls would be a major criteria in the determination of your administration’s scorecard whenever you finally bow out of office? Or shall we write off the future Dora Akunyilis, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies, Folorunsho Alakijas, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealas and Michelle Obamas amongst those girls? We think not, Mr. President. Please bring back our girls!
