Nigeria in the eye of a raging industrial storm BY EBENEZER BASSEY

Questions of workers employment, compensation, wages and working conditions have occupied center stage of media gist following the eruption of an economic storm occasioned by the malaise of industrial actions through strikes and protests calling for an improvement of better working conditions for workers across Nigeria. It would be recalled that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) the umbrella body of trade union organizations in Nigeria staged a nationwide protest that witnessed a total shut down of industries and parastatals, a consequence of an executive fiat that heralded the death of fuel subsidy early last year.  A nostalgic incursion into reminiscent memories provides flash backs of zealot proletariats who took to the streets in defiance of the scorching sun, searing heat, heavy downpour, hunger and police brutality to ventilate their aversion  for a conspicuously exploitative policy. In the end, the voice of the majority held sway or so it seemed. 

Twenty four months after, the incessant crises in the nation’s oil regime continues to live up to its reputation, Nigerians had once again been browbeaten, trapped in the closet of grandiose speeches and prevarications by government officials. Following this trend, an emphasis on oil as the mainstay of the nation’s survival will forge the arrowhead and thrust of this narrative. Of course, this conclusion is drawn from facts that lend support to existing economic and political realities which reveal that at least 80 per cent of the nation’s economic derivative accrues from the oil sector. Indeed it is in view of this position that the interest of various pressure groups ( public and private) comes to clash at the center all in a bid to lay their paws on the monotonous oil derived revenue. Thus while strike actions have been utilized as a veritable tool throughout labour movement for pressing the needs of aggrieved interest groups, salient questions have been raised to the effect that; should the industrial weapon be used as a shield or sword? This is because history is replete with strike actions that practically brought the economy of nations to their knees. Indeed, it is the devastating economic and socio-political effects of strikes that the sovereign dread as it has been frequently hijacked by disgruntled elements to topple an existing political order. 

   
 As the long drawn battle between the Academic staff union of universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government continues to rage with efforts to reach a consensus ending in a stalemate, other interest groups in the country have drawn inspiration from the agitation of one of the nation’s foremost interest groups to also press home their demands. Recently, health workers across Nigeria joined their ASUU counterpart to stage another strike action. The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) which is a coalition of Medical and Health workers union of Nigeria (MHWUN); National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Nigerian Union of Pharmacists, Medical Technologists and Professions Allied to Medicine (NUPMTPAM); Senior staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutions ( SSAUTHRIAI) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Education Institutions, Research and Allied Institutes(NASU) joined the strike action in furtherance of the implementation of the ruling of the  National Industrial Court (NIC) of July23, 2013, following the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum. It would be recalled that judgment was entered for health workers at the NIC when the court ruled that it was unjust and illegal for the Federal ministry of health to insist that members of the unions constituting JOHESU must pass through the null CONHESS 10 grade level, in their career progression. Indeed it was this ruling that laid to rest the 2-year war for skipping CONHESS 10. However, the nagging problem of the enforcement of the decision of the industrial court reared its head again as the ministry of health treated the judgment with levity.

Indications are rife that another strike action is brewing following threats by the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to engage a sympathy strike aimed at making the pressure at the center more intense with the hope that the Federal government may succumb to the demands of ASUU. Also in the offing, is another proposed strike set to be embarked upon by the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the union challenged the minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo’s claim that 70 per cent of staff members had received exit package. Gabriel Egbadekwu, NUEE vice-president in an interview with press men accused the government of handing over PHCN facilities to successor companies without resolving cogent labour issues.  As it stands, the atmosphere in Nigerian tertiary institutions is as dry as the savanna, the non-academic staff union of universities (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) have all joined their colleagues at ASUU. Such is the grim atmosphere in Nigeria’s reformative centers since ASUU declared war against the Federal Government in July. 

A trip to the University of Uyo Teaching hospital offers a sordid tale of neglect and deprivation. Patients have been abandoned to their own fate following the recent strike action embarked upon by health workers. Consequently, the spate of death rate has risen at an alarming high. It still remains a wonder why a crucial sector that safe guard lives should be involved in a guillotine action in furtherance of material gains. Indeed it is for this purpose that an irritated President Obasanjo fired a number of striking policemen during his spell as leader of the nation. While this executive action may be interpreted as tyrannical, the rationale may be justified on grounds that when the police a fundamental sector that binds the stratum of the society together refrain from performing their constitutional duties, then the edifice may collapse in the face of a wave of anarchy.

Undoubtedly, capitalism thrives upon the bent backs of workers and to be emancipated from the modern slavery of exploitative labour; efforts must be geared towards mobilizing the working class to stand erect in an attempt to introduce the core democratic values of socialism, an entrenchment of a regime that is favourable for workers and the poor. In any case;  since the ruling class cannot stand a united front of workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and radical civil society organization must engage a more tactical approach beyond mere episodic warfare by way of waging a more holistic class war to effect change in the polity. There will be stumbling blocks, hurdles, turns and twists on the track, but the hope of a civil society that is structured upon the value of equity in the distribution of wealth is only an empty dream “under the watch of bosses ruining the lives of the working poor, whose toil create the wealth they lavish.”

However, the present state of trade union in Nigeria is not without fault as the leadership is fraught with corruption and the appearance of a total disconnect from workers they aver to represent. Here, their role in the anti-fuel price hike and the general strike that ensued in 2012 is put in perspective. In fact, their discretion was what provided a saving face for the corrupt petroleum regime and the subsequent imprimatur that maintained the status-quo of the fuel price increase. Indeed the union has received a barrage of accusations in the way and manner it cowered and chickened out of the pension conflict and its questionable approach to the growing spate of terrorism in the country. There is a complete collapse of ideology within union movement as most of the leaders are completely bereft of the ideological essence o f trade unionism. The workings of internal democracy in union politics is absent as ordinary workers have no influence on who eventually represents them. In fact clear instances of imposition of union leaders by states have become a common phenomenon. The last NLC election in Lagos state supplies unholy account on how states manipulate polls to impose their stooge on the union.

To say the least, Nigeria’s most formidable Achilles heels in build-up to the attainment of vision 2020 has been insufficient power, poor governance, ineffective institution, a dismal social infrastructure, high profile corruption, dwindling educational standards and security and above all, an absence of sincerity of purpose on the part of leaders to nail the misfortune and woes of a troubled nation in the wake of a grueling industrial storm.