NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG!

ZION B-BC   NEWSLETTER.  

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 372. 27th August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You   Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG!

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), is shadow-boxing again! Should not this body and its affiliate, Trade Union Congress, stop deceiving themselves that they are capable of shutting down Nigeria’s commercial activities and by extension the nation’s economy?
The other time when President Buhari’s government increased petrol pump price from N87.00 naira to N145.00, in a gradual process to “ removing the fraudulent fuel subsidy”, citizens refused to engage in massive protests when called out by the Union!
WHY? Because Labour had said that it was not opposed to deregulation of the Petroleum downstream sector as long as there was no scarcity of the commodity – a position similarly held by government!

Secondly, NLC and Government also believe that the increase in Electricity tariff was long overdue in order that Distribution Companies (Discos), would have sufficient funds to purchase, distribute electricity regularly and seamlessly without overcharging unmetered premises!
Thirdly, why did Labour fail to call for strikes and protests since September 1, 2020, when the new price hikes came into existence but waited until Monday 28th September, 2020, for a “a mother of all strikes”? Who does not know that Labour and any Government in power are birds of a feather? Who is deceiving who?
Fourthly, the NLC had been factionalized since 2014  and a merger was eventually brokered between the two major unions NLC and United Labour Congress (ULC), fresh challenges of losing positions and titles surfaced among field officers since Comrade Joe Ejero  of the defunct ULC assumed the position of Deputy President of the new merger to make up for lost grounds!
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT HAS STOPPED THE 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2020, NATION-WIDE STRIKE BY NLC!

LABOUR ANTECEDENTS IN NIGERIA – 20th -21st CENTURY.
Who does not know that politicians and labour union comrades are “paddy-paddy”? The history of labour unions in Nigeria dates back to the colonial era of the forties when political emancipation/consciousness gradually crept into the most-populous country in Africa, South-West of the Sahara but from all studies, these bodies which claimed their core mandate as the passionate protectors of workers legitimate rights, have performed woefully and abysmally in over eighty years (80), of corporate existence!

Reasons for their ineffectiveness and chains of failures in that long period could be traced to early enticement to partisan politics when a major party, National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), which was desperate to have a strong foothold in the scheme of governance at the federal level, lured the then labour union comrades into a political merger which procured its desired goal!
According to newspapers reports the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), settled their 6-year-old crisis in July 2020, merged, and avowed at a joint media press conference which was hosted by Ayuba Wabba, Joe Ajaero and other executive members, to protect the workers. Mr Ajaero was announced as the new Deputy President of the NLC at that august conference!

The Joe Ajaero-led faction of NLC announced the birth of the ULC, with over 25 affiliates including some aggrieved affiliates of Trade Union Congress (TUC), on December 18, 2016, following disagreements over the NLC general elections which took place in 2015!  The reports also, mentioned that ULC was not an underdog in the merger as it boasted of two powerful oil unions, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)! Its other affiliates include Nigeria Union on Electricity Employees (NUEE), Nigeria Union of Mine Workers, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Employees (NUBIFFE), Nigeria Union of Rail Workers, National Union of Lottery Agents, & Employees, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE)!

The following were some excerpts from our 195th Edition of our previous Newsletter dated 7th May, 2017:
“MERCENERY LABOUR LEADERS NOW EYE POLITICAL OFFICES! WHAT GREED?
“It did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians when some leaders of a faction of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), during the last MAY DAY celebrations, expressed desire to metamorphose into a political party in view of the fact that since politics was a game of NUMBERS they could harness their numerical strength to advantage in order to CATER MORE for the basic necessities of life for their members as political gurus!  Are they really passionate about the NEEDS of the downtrodden and over-used Nigerian workers or deviously planning to cut a niche for themselves in the rosy political landscape and line their pockets with the financial largesse which accompanies Nigeria's lucrative capitalist presidential system of government?
“In 1978, there was a merger of four different organizations which founded the NLC as an umbrella body for 42 restructured industrial unions with an initial membership population of 4 million, which has now grown to over 6 million, to "cater for workers specific and general interests in a more organized manner!
Before Comrade Wahab Goodluck, who emerged as the first President of that new body, there was the immortalized "LABOUR LEADER NUMBER ONE", PA MICHAEL IMODU, of blessed memory, who championed the cause of Nigerian down-trodden workers without seeking neither paraphernalia of office nor aspired to become a politician which today has become the vogue and vocation among the present crop of labour leaders of the 21st Century! Worthy of note also were Comrades Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar and Pascal Bafiyau, who followed Pa Imodu's footstep unlike Adams Oshiomole, who later veered into politics and spent 8 years in office as Governor of Edo State (2008-2016)!  Nobody was surprised that the ex- governor was rebuffed by workers at the Eagle Square, on May Day, 2017, when he tried to calm a mild protest against Federal Government officials because he already belonged to the ELITES CLUB of capitalist politicians!

“The International Labour Organisation (ILO), has consistently advocated that labour agitations for improved workers conditions and enhanced living wages must always be predicated on mutual negotiations instead of confrontations, antagonisms or picketing with employers of labour in order to allow for a conflict resolution of "no victor, no vanquished", because when union leaders accused employers of deliberate exploitation of their workers, the later always accused their employees also of collecting free emoluments in spite of regular lackadaisical attitude to work!
“Nigerian workers have been maligned, sidelined and exploited by Governors of the various State Governments who owe them salary arrears of between 6 and 15 months up to May Day 2017, like Kogi State, which leads with 15 points on the medal table of unpaid N18.000.00 paltry stipends and  even expected MARCH PASTS by the workers on empty stomachs because the Labour negotiators reneged on the bond of COVENANT through delay of serious negotiations with State Governments for their own selfish pecuniary gains!

During the disrupted 2017 May Day gathering at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the Federal Government delegation comprising of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senate President, and Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives were barred from delivering official addresses including that of the President!
Nigerians were also not surprised when in January 2017, some ambitious labour leaders announced the formation of a new Labour Union which emerged after a two-year internal crisis that split the NLC into two opposing factions following a disputed general elections in 2015. Out of the 42 Industrial Unions, of the NLC, no fewer than 25, elected Comrade Joe Ajaero who heads one of the splinter groups as President of the new United Labour Congress (ULC). As expected, the other group of the NLC, headed by Comrade Ayuba Wabba, described the emergence of the new labour party as a setback to the agitation for better conditions of service - especially on the issue of the new minimum wage being negotiated with the Federal Government.”.

POLITICIZATION OF LABOUR UNIONS HAS BEEN THE BANE OF CORRUPT CONSECUTIVE GOVERNMENTS IN NIGERIA!
Was it not high time that Nigerian Workers took their destiny into their own hands by barring political jobber comrades from participating in the administration of labour unions and instead beam the searchlight on progressive/vibrant peer group cadre who would henceforth engage any government meaningfully and get positive results that would enhance the total welfare package of every worker? From all indications, the new reconciled/reconstituted NLC, is nothing short of a fluke which is bent on perfecting hidden agenda of surreptitiously cornering what should be their fair share of the national cake! They cannot be trusted at all for the following reasons:
Since the signing into law of the N30, 000.00 naira National Minimum Wage, the document has remained a paper tiger because very few States have implemented the agreement between government and workers.
When the Covid-19 pandemic birthed in Nigeria between February/March 2020, Labour pushed behind the issue of minimum wage and capitalized on corona virus pandemic palliatives by supporting government’s excuse of economic down-turn!
From January 2020 to date, NLC had taken the back seat and is cleverly negotiating for political spaces come 2023 in order to have bigger bites of the common patrimony BUT they must be stopped by all well-meaning citizens!
These current labour leaders are definitely square pegs in round holes and MUST be jettisoned before they could do more damage to the psyche of both Nigerian workers and the citizens at large!
Nigeria does need more Adams Oshiomoles in the polity! “A Stitch In Time Saves Nine!

Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to:  facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390.  08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.