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| NLC Vice President, Comrade Joe Ajearo |
Few years back, the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) trooped to the street to protest against the fuel
subsidy. It gained huge public interest but many thereafter wondered why the Labour
could not do same to flush corruption and corruptive leaders out of the system.
In this interview with selective
reporters, the NLC Vice President, Comrade Joe Ajearo explained why the labour
can’t tackle corruption amidst his bid to emerge next labour President. Excerpts
The
NLC delegate conference is fast approaching, what are your expectations?
We are expecting that with
proper preparation without intrigues, this convention will be rancor free and
that is the prayer and dream of every worker. At least we should be seen to be
doing things differently from the politicians because it is all about service
to the workers. And we don’t behave as if there is something to earn there. It
is not like where you get constituency allowance. If it must be clearly service
to workers, we shouldn’t be seen fighting over it.
From
the last delegate conference to date, what achievement has the present
administration made?
We have achieved a lot,
given the time and circumstances around us. Basically, the issue of minimum wage
which was moved to N18, 000 was achieved during this present leadership. Don’t
forget that the NLC is just like a club where members can join. The basic
achievements are by the individual unions. NLC is just an umbrella union if in
my union I am looking for something and I can’t get it, the tendency if for me
to go to NLC as a father to now assist. During this period, most unions have
had landmark achievements. So, if you collate the more that 40 affiliates
unions of the NLC, you will see that it is the labour movement. In most
instance, it is only when they couldn’t conclude an issue that they need the
father figure of the NLC, it is on such rare cases and on national issues like
minimum wages that they run to NLC.
Many people believe that
labour is not as vibrant as it used to be during the days of Adams Oshiomole.
What is your take on this?
Adams was a general secretary;
he was a factor worker and later became a paid staff. So by the time he was
coming up, he was already thorough bred. And he also served as deputy president
to Pascal Abiafiro. That is one. I am equally lucky to have worked with people
we call first generation general secretaries like Adams. If you work under the
tutelage of those first people that became General Secretary after the creation
of industrial union, you will learn a lot. It won’t be like somebody that just
became GS yesterday. The issue of mentoring is very important. If you bring the
Ejiofors of this world, if they talk, you know that they are vomiting unionism.
So if you are lucky to have work with such people
Another point is that there
is problem which is societal. Before now, you can’t serve as a unionist without
being ideological. Those ideologies guide you as principle. You can’t go there
to look for money or to cheapen yourself. It is just the defense of workers. I
am also amongst the cadre that moved in from student unionism and recruited
into union politics. That was the process of recruitment then. Today, you still
wonder the recruitment process. But even if you are to replicate it, is this
NANS we are seeing? Is this the kind of NANS that will engage IBB or the
military? Even the place you are going to recruit from, what is left of it? So
that is a societal problem. And everything that is happening in the society,
has the tendency to reflect in other sector, whether it is in labour or
academic. I think the society has a lot of influence on that.
The
former NLC president Adams Oshiomole canvassed for labour activists to also
partake in politics. What do you think is the major factor hindering workers
from partaking in active politics or standing for elective position?
First and foremost, the
problem is the monetization of politics in Nigeria. If you work for 35 years,
and you have four kids, dependent relatives no matter your salary, it will be
difficult for you to save enough to buy ticket or nomination form of any party.
You may have the best idea, but when it comes that, you discover that you can’t
make it. Unless probably during that period, while working, you are fortunate
to have made money either by combining your work with other things, but the end
product is that you need to still go to god fathers. And if you are somebody
that runs a policy that is based on principle and you don’t want to be control
by god fathers, it will equally be difficult for you to go and succumb to god
fathers. In some instances in this country we are told how and if you have
agreement with your god father that ‘I am going to be giving you N100 million
every month, when you enter, office there will be another level of looting for
you to meet up. There are a lot of factors hindering the workers to participate
in politics. But if it is just belonging to political a party, that is
different, but seeking for elective offices, you can’t fund it. Elections have
been commercialized in the country that it is almost beginning to go become a
no go area.
What
solution do you suggest to the monetization of politics in Nigeria?
Solution might not be short
in sight because there is so much poverty and there is nothing anybody can do
about it. Most people feel that even if it is N1000, it is that share without
knowing that they are mortgaging their future. The value system in Nigeria has
been bastardized. If you are a graduate in Nigeria for four, five years and you
don’t have a job, people talk look down on you. That is why the crave for money
is becoming the in thing. In those days, people were afraid to steal so as not
to dent their family reputation, but these days, people steal so much and they
give you chieftaincy title. So until we remove this attachment on money, we are
going to find it difficult. It is a societal problem. Our educational system
today, the emphasis on civil education is no longer there. On who is a good
citizen? A good citizen appears to be that one that has a lot of money not that
one that will see 20 million and return it. To correct this, we have to go back
to our schools, from when children are getting into primary school, it has to
be a gradual process.
Are
you contesting for president of NLC in the next delegate conference?
There is only one position
I have not occupy as a unionist and that position is the position of president
of NLC. At the union level, I have reached the point of no promotion as general
secretary. And at the NLC I am a deputy national president. Unless maybe am
lame, deaf and dump, that I will say I am not interested. Naturally, I should
be interested.
If
elected president, what difference would like to make?
We are going to work. We
are going to reintegrate with our allies. We are not going to depend on the
trade union alone. We are going to move with the labour movement. And labour
movement encompasses the civil societies, lecturers, market women, students and
so on. If we capture that group, then we can say we are the people. And we will
move based on what our people say we should do. We are going to dine and weep
with our people, especially the workers. The issue of multinationals just
waking up and sacking indiscriminately will not be tolerated. We are going to
bring back the dignity of the worker. I cannot betray the Nigerian workers.
That is one thing even my critics will tell you, that my commitment to the
Nigerian worker is not in doubt and it will not change.
The
labour movement fought for fuel subsidy, yet the movement has not been on the
forefront for fighting corruption. What is your take on this?
We have not really
institutionalized a mechanism to insist on probing a person found to have
corruptly enriched himself. Labour can think in that line. And for us to do
that, we don’t have the police or the EFCC. It may end at the level of
agitation. You know also that this has legal limitation because the law says
nobody is guilty until proven innocent. That is a limitation. We can quantify
morally that this person is guilty, but if there is no clear case of
corruption, we are limited. But one of the basic things I will come up with is
for us to be proactive and not reactive. Which means that, I will ensure that
we give a charter of demand to those in authority? We will sit down have a
think tank on the power sector and say if you do this, we can achieve this, if
we look at policy on unemployment, how many jobs do we create annually, and so
on. So by the time we present this policy to them, we may sit back and watch
how they are implemented and not to react each time there is problem. We should
have a programme on ground that at the first May Day, we hand it over to
whoever it the president that this is our charter of demand.
What
would you say about the recently concluded national conference?
The outcome of the
conference was a good one. We don’t know if the implementation will be a good
one. I never believed that anybody would subject the outcome of the confab to
the national assembly. If you do it, you water it down and destroy it. The
debates there were robust. Majority of the people that went there were not o
yes men. Now that they have reached some agreements, if those agreements are
not implemented then the whole money spent there would have been in vain.
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