The Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC to review the World Bank Financed Cash transfer scheme and propose the inclusion of low-income earners in the programme.
by Taiwo Adisa October 1, 2023.
The Yoruba people have a saying which says eni ti o fi ogun odun pile were, odun melo le fe fi sinwin? Literally translated, it means, he who takes 20 years preparing how to demonstrate madness, when will he eventually enter the streets?
The above appears to capture the story of the Nigerian Organised Labour and the Federal Government since the famous presidential declaration- ‘subsidy is gone,’ on May 29, 2023.
From May 29 up to the last week of September 2023 when the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) and the Trade Union Congress(TUC) finally resolved to embark on an indefinite strike starting from October 3, 2023, there was clearly a gap of four months. And in all those months, we have not seen anything concrete to address the growing agitation of workers.
Earlier in June, when organised Labour vibrated as a result of the increase in prices of petroleum products, there appeared a semblance of hope, especially as the government delegation announced its readiness to meet the Labour centres.
On June 5, a Federal Government team led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila met with the Organised Labour and agreed to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal. The Chief of Staff to the President, who read a communiqué of the meeting stated thus: “The Federal Government, the TUC, and the NLC to establish a joint committee to review the proposal for any wage increase or award and establish a framework and timeline for implementation.
“The Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC to review the World Bank Financed Cash transfer scheme and propose the inclusion of low-income earners in the programme.
“The Federal Government, the TUC and the NLC to revive the CNG conversion programme earlier agreed with Labour centres in 2021 and work out detailed implementation and timing.”
Another meeting between the parties which took place in mid-June resolved that the National Economic Council (NEC) should be saddled with the task of fashioning the best option to secure a cushion for subsidy removal. Eventually, the NEC resolved that the State governments should handle the issue of palliatives, while the sum of N5 billion was approved for each state of the federation. The states have since distributed the palliatives but succour, in the real sense of it, still eludes the workers.
While the workers groan under the hardship of skyrocketing transport fares and galloping inflation, with the price of 50kg of rice jumping from about N30,000 to N50,000, the Ministry of Labour and the organised labour have been sitting out at endless meetings.
You just wonder what they have really been discussing in the last four months, that offered neither head nor tail. But it looks to me that the soup the labour organisations have been offering their members in recent months was cooked in the eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari, which coincided with the tenure of Comrade Ayuba Wabba as NLC President. Those were the days when the Labour saw no evil and smelled no evil as far as government activities were concerned. When a government that campaigned against the Naira exchanging at less than N200 to the United States Dollar made the same Naira exchange for over N400 to the dollar, with attendant inflationary trends, the Labour muted its vocal chords as its leaders lived life as if nothing was wrong. The man had died in the Nigerian Labour system all along.
Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka wrote in his famous novel of eponymous title, “The man died in all the keep silent in the face of tyranny.” It should therefore not be strange to all that the Labour which was able to keep silent in the face of dangerous economic trends in eight years has been unable to find its voice in defence of the subsidy-induced stress of the Tinubu era.
During the Obasanjo days, when the then President of the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC), Adams Oshiomhole was in charge, a statement such as we heard from the President on May 29 would have been met with instant response from the Labour. The streets would have been flooded with protesters with relentless shouts of Hi Soweto!!! But times have changed. Oshiomhole himself has since joined them and the ferocious power of organised Labour has disappeared. Those powers have largely been sublet to political masquerades, even as the tokenistic nature of the goodwill procured from past agitations has left the people far more bewildered. It looks like today’s Labour and the government at all levels only colludes to take them for a ride and package some drama each time they throw up challenging economic situations. The Labour makes some noise and the government drops some crumbs. Life goes on thereafter. Today Labour has become more or less a lame duck. The man died and things are falling apart. Okete ti padi da o nle aja (the grass cutter has turned it back and it’s pursuing the dog) and for four months, the Labour cannot eke out any reasonable relief for its members. Reports from the states indicate that those who got the palliatives are strictly not workers. So the workers have been bearing the brunt of the subsidy removal, without succour in view.
Though the Federal Government has declared that the planned indefinite strike fixed for October 3, would amount to an affront on the subsisting court order, the organised Labour has stated that nothing would stop it this time. Should the government beat a baby and expect it not to cry? That is a question to the court that issued such an injunction. Some affiliate organisations have pledged support for NLC and TUC this time though.
I want to think that the Federal Government has foot dragged on whatever succour it plans to unveil for the workers all these while. I pray the president’s independence speech contains some way forward. An administration that was swift in announcing an end to fuel subsidy should not leave anyone in doubt as to the solutions.
If today’s Labour is practically in limbo, the government needs not rub it on its face for the sake of the teeming workers. The endless meetings at the instance of the Ministry of Labour appear headed for nowhere, especially where the issues at stake are not hidden under an igneous rock. I think that besides the fact that the leadership of the labour unions lacks the conviction and verve to lead mass protests, the government needs to realise that the fact it is new and the need to allow it to take firm roots in the sounds of national politics could also be a limiting factor for the organised Labour. What is important is that the administration should end the macabre dance and the endless meetings. It should make public the much talked about wage award, address the transportation challenges in a robust way that would ensure the workers’ pay can take them home and then implement a few welfare packages here and there.
