Bimbola Oyesola
As President Muhammadu Buhari takes the oath of office on May 29 to lead Nigeria for another four years, the president the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, in this interview, says fixing power should be the main priority.
On the new minimum wage, the labour leader warns that any governor that fails to pay the new wage of N30,000 should be ready to have his state made ungovernable, including operators in the private sector of the economy.
He also speaks on the involvement of labour in the composition of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) board, the ongoing struggle for the leadership of the 9th National Assembly and other national issues.
Excerpts:
Agenda for Buhari’s second term
The clear agenda is three issues. Let him concentrate in building three critical infrastructure. One is the issue of power. When you have constant power supply, everybody will find his level, industries will blossom and we can begin to address the problem of jobs and insecurity in our country. We thank God that part of the loans sourced will be used for the Mambilla power project. Power should be our major priority for now. The second priority is the issue of insecurity. Yes there are new emerging trends, but no investor will come into the country with security challenge. So, there is need to look at our security architecture. We need to end the entire process of insecurity. I agree that the fight against corruption must be a priority, but it is also essential that we must get people who have integrity and we have so many of them in Nigeria. He should not restrict himself to party faithful. Nigerians are making waves around the world. For this second term he should go for the best. People of proven integrity, not those when you appoint them, they will ‘eat and clean mouth’ and pretend as if they have not eaten at all. This is what is required now and, if we are able to do this, Nigeria can return to the path of greatness, progress, prosperity and everybody will be happy and things can move forward.
We must put in place agro-allied companies that will add value to our agriculture products as it is done in countries like Thailand, India in rice production. That is how to create jobs for our youth.
Last is the issue of our comparative advantage in oil and gas. We have no business to continue to import refined products; we are exporting our jobs. It’s not rocket science to fix our refineries. In fact, a modular refinery can be built in 18 months. Our refineries can be overhauled. The four refineries, if upgraded, are enough to serve our local needs and even the West African market. It is because of the corruption in the system that we’ve not been able to do this. Those refineries can be used to power businesses and even the power system. But selling it to a few individuals that are not even paying taxes is not going to help us, because in every economy around the world there is a stage where government plays critical roles. Look at the United States of America, when did they start privatisation, it’s recently? Even the UK, it’s recently during the time of Margaret Thatcher. Government has a role in business, it has a role in driving social system. We cannot talk of privatisation when we have not stabilised.
Minimum wage
We have passed the level where governors or any employer in the country could play God over the workers.
We thank God that we have passed that level, we have passed the bridge. Today, it is a law. If you don’t pay, you have violated the law. There is provision for sanctions; there is provision for us to take many, many actions, including taking the issue to court, and demanding that you pay arrears. Clearly, we have gone beyond the level of ‘whether I can pay or I cannot pay.’ Political office holders, including the governors, have sworn to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Therefore, anybody that does not pay, he has invariably violated the Constitution and his oath of office and he should resign.
Clearly, going forward, it is about the normal tradition that we are going to engage states that refuse to pay. We are not treading this path for the first time. We will continue to do that and nothing that has been given to workers was given to them on a platter of gold.
We are not under any illusion that any recalcitrant governor or any recalcitrant employer will give workers the minimum wage on a platter of gold. The law is there, but we have to do engagement and we will do that vigorously and with all our ability to make sure that Nigerian workers benefit from this little increase.
Zamfara paying N7,500
The issue of Zamfara is not essentially about lack of resources, it’s about priority. We had a time in this country when Zamfara workers were earning the highest salary, when the minimum wage was N5,500 during the former governor, but now we have somebody that is irresponsible and, therefore, he has reduced governance to personal issues. No wonder you see insecurity going on in Zamfara. Before, people used to sleep with peace in Zamfara, but because of inequality, deprivations, poverty, you can see what is going on now.
We cannot celebrate such people. We will take the issue state by state, one after the other and engage them. But the issue of Zamfara essentially is not the issue of lack of resources. No, it’s about what the present governor prioritises. If you remember, he was one of the people against the minimum wage.
We shut down Zamfara for eight weeks, even the traditional rulers, the market women had to plead with us. The whole state was at standstill. No doubt, the workers there must be celebrated, they have done their best. The narrative has changed now, even election issues now are tied to minimum wage. He would have contested election, but he cannot win, we would have defeated him.
However, there are processes for implementation, first, after signing into law, then it would be gazetted, then after it goes to Justice, Secretary to the Government of Federation and Salary andWages Commission who would release enabling circular to ministries and agencies. That is the instrument that is required for us to do engagement at all levels.
NSITF
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige is trying to bend the truth on the issue of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), the more he tries to hide the truth, the more the truth will stand.
The information he has been giving on the issue is false and such is not expected from a public figure. That is the reason he could not attend the May Day celebration, despite the invitation.
The nomination of Kokori was not from labour, but as a result of his achievement and contribution to national development.
Ngige should know that he is a minister of labour and not a minister of his house. Labour is about people; labour is about managing the people and managing the unions.
We have said it clearly that all the narratives he is giving are false and such is not expected from a public figure like him.
I thank God all that I said on the issue at the May Day rally in Abuja was confirmed by the Vice President who was in attendance. I told the Vice President that we never nominated Frank Kokori, he was nominated by the APC stalwart in Delta State, and the Vice President confirmed it that it was the committee, which include himself and the former Secretary to the Government of Federation.
Kokori got his appointment as a stalwart of APC in Delta State. They actively forwarded his name. So, for the minister to go to the press and say we nominated Kokori is false and the Vice President is around to confirm it.
Having appointed Kokori on merit and he is from our rank and file, we also thought we should defend him, nobody should treat him as an orphan. That he doesn’t have a father, so people can treat him anyhow? No! He has been treated in like manner for three years.
Out of all the boards that were inaugurated sometime ago, it was only the one headed by Kokori that the minister refused to inaugurate. The board was supposed to be inaugurated on July 28, 2018. It was the minister that sent Kokori’s name to the Department of State Service (DSS) for screening. Why did he send his name? It was agreed that the board would be inaugurated on July 28, 2018. In fact the former permanent secretary of the ministry of labour, Mrs. Odusote, was to chair the inauguration. Others were involved, but suddenly the story changed. He refused to inaugurate it. We are going to engage him fully because he has been the sole administrator of the fund. He has benefited and enjoyed the fund, so he will not willingly relinquish power.
When the union had a meeting with the President in March this year, we mentioned it to the President on the need for the inauguration of two key labour institutions, NSITF and National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC). No administration has ever done that and that is why we have miriads of industrial crisis, the NLAC actually discusses industrial issues; it is a tripartite body, not ad hoc, not when there is crisis.
But when we complained to the President that the minister had refused to inaugurate the boards, the minister hurriedly tried to stage-manage an inauguration, but it never happened.
That is why there has been crisis in industrial relations. He prefers a situation whereby people think that he is working. However, he has been creating problems for government.
In a good system, government would have looked at the issues and the challenges in industrial relations.
For four years, he even tried to block us from seeing the President except we used our means. Even when the President asked him to bring us, he would make sure that it never happened because our letter would still pass through him.
So, we’ve gotten mandate from our national delegates to ensure that he doesn’t feast on our money anymore. I heard him sometime ago saying that the money is not even for workers; is it his own money? The money we are talking about was paid by our employers.
He also said that Kokori was not qualified. This is someone that has master’s degree in Development Economics as far back as 1984, from The Hague, not these small-small universities. He was appointed even during the military era as secretary of OMPADEC, that has now transformed to NDDC. How can he say Kokori is not qualified? He held sway as the general secretary of the largest and most complicated union in Nigeria, NUPENG. It’s not funny. What is the role of a chairman of a board? It’s just ceremonial. It’s to ensure transparency, discipline, corporate governance, and we understand that this is what the minister does not want. Kokori was appointed on merit.
We also want him to know that labour is an institution. We are not an extension of his ministry. By ILO Convention 87 and 88, labour is an independent body representing the interest of workers.
After our complaint to the President, he hurriedly sent out letters for the inauguration, but we discovered that the name of the chairman was missing.
When the board was supposed to be inaugurated last year, and it was cancelled. The minister told me in confidence that the approval was by the Acting President, Yemi Oshinbajo, because the President was on medical leave. He said that he wanted the President to be around so that the inauguration could be re-validated. We said that’s okay by us. The President came, it was re-validated, but the minister kept on postponing it.
The minister brought up the issue of corruption in the former board as the excuse for not inaugurating the new one.
What is the relationship between the former board and the new one? In fact , his own permanent secretary, Dr. Ilo, is wanted for corruption. A judgment has been passed. So, we believe there is something that the minister is trying to cover up.
We thought it important to tell Nigerians the truth. It has been said that truth exalts a nation and falsehood destroys a nation. That is why we decided we must start with the truth.
At the venue, all of us were there, never knew he had replaced Kokori. After waiting for sometime, he sent a message to us that the event had been postponed, due to unforseen circumstances. But days later we heard that we hired thugs to disrupt the inauguration scheduled for last month, we challenged the minister to come up with evidence that we hired thugs.
He said that NLC, NUPENG came with thugs to disrupt the inauguration scheduled for last month. Is it me that he is referring to as a thug?
We had the DSS in attendance, we had other stakeholders in attendance, media men, cameramen, all seated waiting for the inauguration. So, he should bring evidence to show that thugs were there. All these are false and it is so unfortunate that a whole minister, a public figure, can come up with such lies. He has CCTV camera, let him play it to the world and show where we attacked him.
We call on the President to investigate this matter. As I said, we will fully engage him. Since the beginning of this case, we have written more than seven letters in the past three years. The purpose of organised labour is to defend our members, and Kokori is from our rank and file, and we will defend him to the letter.