NLC @ 40: The struggles of Yesterday, the challenges of Today and the hope of Tomorrow

NLC @ 40: The struggles of Yesterday, the challenges of Today and the hope of Tomorrow

BY NSEOBONG DAVID

The Nigeria Labour Congress is a non-state institution that has come of age in the defense of the interests of its working and retired members in line with the objectives of its constitution.

Nigerian workers, despite the enormous challenges of organizing, have been building strong organizations with strong working men and women.

It was commendable that the national executive council of the NLC unanimously adopted the resolution to celebrate a strong labour centre @ 40 and in Akwa Ibom State, officials, members and friends of the NLC last week Friday, 23rd February, 2018 rolled out their drums to celebrate her 40 years of existence in the struggle.

To the members, it was a period of stocktaking and reflection on the struggles of their heroes past (yesterday), to evaluate the challenges of Labour today and to chart the course for the hope of tomorrow.

The NLC being an umbrella organization of trade unions in Nigeria has had series of experiences to account for in its struggles since its emergence in 1978. Under Nigeria’s military government, Labour leaders were frequently arrested and union meetings disrupted.

The NLC has been involved over the period in not just the struggle for democracy and development, but more fundamentally for Nigeria’s national liberation.

The experience of the NLC in the past, according to a former Secretary General Akwa Ibom State Council of the NLC, Comrade Obong Ikpeobong who served for 16 years, was laced with instances of arrests and oppression which the leadership were subjected to.

Ikpeobong narrated the heat of the struggles and disclosed that despite the odds, they were never deterred by the distractions, but pressed forward through focus and co-operation.

He encouraged members to keep hope alive and press forward to the achievement of the goals of their various trade unions.

While evaluating the challenges faced by the NLC today to include non-improved welfare packages for workers, the state Chairman, Comrade Etim Ukpong appealed to relevant authorities to rectify the core challenges of Labour in Nigeria.

The State Leader charged members to emulate the antecedents offered during the 40 years review and stressed his commitment to leading the Nigeria Labour Congress in the right direction.

In a bid to uphold the essence for which the women’s wing of the NLC was created in 2003 to increase the participation of women in the affairs of the union, a former Vice Chairman of the NLC in the State, Mrs. Comfort Umana expressed displeasure over the manner at which the leadership of the NLC have sidelined women in the affairs of the Union and demanded for more recognition of working women in the Akwa Ibom State Council of the NLC.

Unarguable, the Nigeria Labour Congress remains the biggest labour centre in Nigeria and indeed Africa with over seven million organized and potential 40 million members.

Recalling the efforts made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1978 to facilitate the formation of the NLC the Chairman on the Occasion, Cyril Icho observed that forty was the age of maturity where NLC must rise up and put modalities in place to harmonize the needs of workers.

As the NLC celebrates its 40 years anniversary, the question which comes to mind is: How is the relationship between the workers and the authorities concerned? Is the welfare of workers given top priority by the government? (considering the ongoing NASU strike).

In the words of Comrade Unyime Usoro, the immediate past Chairman of the NLC in Akwa Ibom State and Special Assistance to Governor Udom Emmanuel on Labour Matters, the Nigeria Labour Congress has struggled to grapple with the complex of problems that have confronted it, and there is still hope that NLC shall rise again!