The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) recently inaugurated its new leadership, with Comrade Joe Ajaero as the President. The former General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Workers, was elected as the new NLC President on a consensus at the 13th NLC’s National Delegates Conference in Abuja. He took over from Ayuba Wabba, who served as the NLC President between 2015 and 2023.
Other members of the new executive included Adewale Adeyanju, Deputy National President; Audu Amber, 2nd Deputy National President, and Kabiru Sani as National Deputy President. Ambali Olatunji was elected the National Treasurer; Benjamin Anthony, Vice President; Steve Okoro, Vice President; Michael Nnachi, Vice President; Olawole Sunday, Vice President, and Marwan Adamu, Financial Secretary.
The new president has listed the priorities of his administration and pledged to resolutely pursue the interests and desires of Nigerian workers. We commend the NLC for the peaceful convention that produced the current leadership. The seamless exercise is unprecedented in the annals of the union. It will spur Ajaero and his team to ensure that the welfare of Nigerian workers is prioritised by the government and other employers of labour. They are coming on board at a time when the country is in a critical transition period. Therefore, much is expected of them. Usually, labour champions causes that concern Nigerian workers and by extension other Nigerians. Unfortunately, under the past administration, the influence of the NLC was not largely felt by the masses. Nigerians look forward to a more proactive labour union this time around.
It is good that the NLC President has pledged to speak for over 133 million poor Nigerians and seek ways of lifting them out of poverty. The union should see the government as a partner in the development of the country. Let the new NLC President take more interest in how government’s policies affect Nigerian workers and other citizens. Ajero should not shy away from engaging the government on policies that are not in the best interest of the workers. The NLC under him should be assertive and constructive in its criticisms against the government.
The issue of a realistic national minimum wage should be addressed forthwith. We say this because the rising inflation has made nonsense of the extant N30,000 national minimum wage. It is commendable that Ajaero has promised to pursue a new national minimum wage law that would take into consideration the objective reality of the socio-economic situation, and expand its reach to capture more workers.There is need for the union to wade into the contentious subsidy regime in the energy sector with a view to taking action against the abuse of the policy. Under his leadership, the NLC should work in defence of Nigerian workers and the masses. Nigerians look up to labour to check the excesses of any administration. The immediate task before the union is to ensure that the forthcoming elections are free, fair and credible. We urge the workers to come out to vote in the elections. It is laudable that the NLC has expressed the desire to work with the government to review the privatization of the power sector considering the epileptic power supply in the country. We believe that Ajaero’s background as former General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, will be of immense help in this exercise.
As the new NLC leader, Ajaero must ensure unity among the various affiliate unions and bodies in the NLC so that Labour will speak with one voice on any national issue. The era of factions and parallel associations in NLC should be over. The new NLC President is eminently qualified for the task ahead. For years, he worked in the Vanguard Newspapers, where he was Secretary/Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Vanguard Chapter, Member Central Working Committee and National Executive Council of the NUJ (1997-1999) and National Ex-Officio (1997-1999). He was also the Secretary General of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees.
Ajaero is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants (FCIMC) and Member of the Nigeria Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), Nigeria Industrial Relations Association (NIRA), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) as well as an Associate Member of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) in 1990. He had a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism from Times Journalism Institute in 1994, and a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labour Relations from the University of Lagos in 1998. He also obtained a Certificate in Advance Tariff Structuring and Subsidy Design Option from the IP3 Cape Town, South Africa, in 2003. We congratulate him on his emergence as the new President of the NLC. We wish him and his team a successful tenure.