Ajaero’s promising start as NLC president

For close observers of the activities of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC in the past few years, the election of Comrade Joe Ajaero, erstwhile general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, as the new president of the congress, came at the most auspicious time considering the excruciating pains and hardships experienced by most citizens due to bad governance resulting in endless fuel scarcity and debilitating naira swap policy for which his predecessor in office, Comrade Ayuba Wabba seemed to have given up on completely.

It was also clear to discern at the time too, that the erstwhile NLC’s leadership had no clue or lacked the guts to engage the federal government meaningfully for it to quickly intervene and alleviate the suffering of the majority of workers and most citizens some of whom regrettably paid the supreme price due to inability to access their hard earned money in various commercial banks either for feeding or attend to health challenges then.

Therefore, we, wholeheartedly welcome the coming on board of Ajaero as the leader of the most influential labour centre in the country and challenge him and his team not to leave any stone unturned in upholding the fundamental aims and objectives of the congress which include, “to protect, defend, and promote the rights, well being and the interests of all workers, pensioners, the trade unions and the working class in general; and also to promote and defend a Nigerian nation that would be just, democratic, transparent and prosperous”.

And in line with the popular adage that ‘the morning shows the day’, the steps taken by the new president since assumption of office particularly regarding the naira scarcity, including the ultimatum to the hitherto recalcitrant Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele for instance, in our view had gone a long way to force the apex bank to do the needful to make the currency available.

We recall vividly that even the Presidency had panicked moments after the deadline was issued by the congress, declaring that President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t instruct Emefiele not to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court directing that the old notes should be legal tender alongside the new ones till December 31 this year after some states had dragged the CBN to the apex court over the naira redesign policy.

Before then,  Ajaero hit the ground running after his emergence when he vowed that it would no longer be business as usual and that, “we shall therefore robustly engage the government to stop the impunity and pervasive wickedness currently going on in the country in the name of petroleum product pricing” adding that the usurpation and use of state power to impoverish the citizenry  was an abuse of the ideals of democracy.

Blowing hot, he maintained that NLC’s engagement with the government would assist the latter in  cutting down on the cost of governance; “cut out fats and reduce the opportunities for fat cats to raid the economy”, insisting that “we shall seek our inclusion in various policy cycles and join hands with the government to establish the supremacy of due process in public life, thus dismantling all structures and vestiges of rent-seeking, wastes, and misappropriation in public governance.

The NLC, he declared will “lead the battle to reclaim Nigeria from the front and in  this spirit the federal government should take immediate action to set free the deposits of Nigerians it has impounded in the banks across the federation by making cash available and also untie the petroleum products supply at the agreed price. If nothing is done … (upon the expiration of the ultimatum), we shall be forced to take necessary steps.”

The number one labour leader had also made history when he  emerged unopposed as the NLC’s  helmsman and remains the first person to be crowned as a consensus candidate in the history of the congress. It is note worthy too, that in his acceptance speech Ajaero

promised to pursue a new national minimum wage law that will increase it from the current N30,000 monthly taking into consideration the objective realities of the country’s social-economic situation.

His contention that the pay rise would help greatly to avoid unnecessary politicking, impunity by employers of labour and reduce the suffering of workers, as well as the firm resolve to protect the citizenry from all anti- people policies though well received by the long suffering employees, rattled some of the states governors  especially those who are yet to fully implement the existing national minimum wage signed into law by Buhari in April 2019.

It is also on record that the President had publicly acknowledged that Ajaero’s hard work, struggles, selflessness and dedication paid off with his election, adding that his journey in the Labour movement has been a remarkable one, marked by many important milestones.

“This victory that emerged from a rancor-free congress is a mark of the strength of democracy in the nation’s labour movement. Today, as he rises to the highest position in the NLC, it is our hope and desire that he will use the position to write a new chapter of progress for all workers and the labour movement in the country and the continent in general,” Garba Shehu quoted the president as saying in a congratulatory message.

His predecessor in office, Wabba shorty, before the election, had apparently set an agenda for his successor asking that the NLC should brace up for the challenge of electing a new leadership that will end the pillage of the country’s national resources and to set her on the path of sustainable development lamenting that Nigerians have endured a lot ranging from insecurity, hardship, poverty, to the endless industrial crisis by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which embarked on strike for a record eight months.

Continuing, he regretted that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had thrown caution to the wind to illegally register two trade unions, the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA), in a bid to divide and conquer university lecturers during the protracted strike but warned that, “it is in light of the developmental deficits, difficulties, and decadence highlighted in the foregoing, that we are called upon to arise as one people to end the national pillage, smash the culture of grab-and-garb, reverse our pervasive economic mentality and consign our divisive politics to the dustbin of history”.

Significantly also, apart from the difficulties faced by the congress and most affiliates in the struggle to improve the working and living conditions of workers and pensioners in the country, one major energy crisis faced by most Nigerians in recent past was the severe disruption in the distribution of refined petroleum products, especially petrol and aviation fuel resulting in acute scarcity and incessant price hikes even as the government paying lip service to fixing public refineries and building new ones.

Consequently, we challenge the Ajaero-led NLC to immediately engage the federal government on how best to address the fuel crisis and tackle the proposed subsidy removal which the outgoing Buhari administration had vowed to effect before handing over on May 29 to the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who similarly had promised to make the removal a top priority decision of his government from day one in office.

Recall further that recently, the Finance Minister, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed announced that Nigeria had secured $800million loan from the World Bank for cash handouts to the poor as part of efforts to end the costly subsidy regime by June this year.

Regrettably, though the impact of the subsidy payment before now has been largely felt across some cities where major marketers dispense petrol for N189 per litre, it is a truism that most motorists and Nigerians pay between N200 and N350 for the same quantity of the product in many parts of the country thereby defeating the real essence of the subsidy and making full deregulation of the PMS a fait accompli.

In other words, the congress has an uphill task getting the government to ensure that Nigeria’s refineries are resuscitated and work maximally for the tax payers even as citizens eagerly await the completion of the Dangote Refinery expected to end the importation of petroleum products in the next few months.

We demand that the congress should revive its historical solidarity and alliance with the civil society organizations, CSOs that was the norm under the leadership of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole but which the Wabba leadership seemed to have jettisoned in fighting employers and government’s oppressive policies and programmes against the working class.

But given the promising start of the NLC new leadership, the working class in our view will likely fare better in the next four years than what obtained under Wabba’s era even as leaders of affiliate unions of the congress should grant utmost cooperation and meet their financial obligations to the Ajaero-led National Administrative Council of the workers body for optimal performance.

Truly, such cooperation will no doubt pave the way for congress to fully deliver on its responsibilities which include, to work for the industrialization and prosperity of the country and ensure protection of jobs, full employment and a humane working environment; struggle to influence public and corporate policies and legislation on all issues at all levels, in the interest of workers, disadvantaged social groups and trade unions amongst others.