Maybe the labour unions joined civil society organisations to demonstrate against the lethargy of the Nigerian government in tackling the insecurity that has bedevilled Nigeria for nearly two decades, only in response to a mischievous devil finding work for an idle institution.
But, of course, the aims and objectives of the Nigerian Labour Congress that provided the largest number of demonstrators “are to protect, defend, and promote the rights, well-being and the interests of all workers, pensioners, the trade unions and the working class in general; and also to promote and defend a Nigerian nation that would be just, democratic, transparent and prosperous.
“So, by joining in demonstrations to demand a more effective security system for Nigeria, the unions have indeed acted on their mandate, which is in tandem with Section 14(2,b) of Nigeria’s Constitution, which provides that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
In recent years, the Nigerian labour movement has woefully failed to intelligently identify a credible course of action in pursuing its mandate to protect the interests of Nigerian workers, which it supposedly represents, and the toiling masses of Nigeria, for whom it claims to be a watchdog.
Many times, the industrial actions that the labour unions embarked upon did not appear to be well thought out. It is, therefore, not too surprising when the stated purposes for which it usually calls out strikes or demonstrations are not always achieved.
The rather unprofessional manner in which the two oil sector trade unions ─ Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers Union ─ recently called strikes against Dangote Refinery in what seemed like a proxy war on behalf of the Svengali of the petroleum sector was bound to fail.
Both unions, which unintelligently engaged Dangote Refinery in an unnecessary spat, ended up holding the short end of the stick by the time the more adept management of the refinery was done with them. They fell flat on their faces and have not yet recovered their groove.
It will take some time before they can make any good impression on Nigerians, who still wonder at the crass insensitivity they displayed by calling an unnecessary strike against Dangote Refinery that is providing the petroleum products that the three-and-a-half refineries of the shameless government-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited woefully failed to do.
Members of the two trade unions allowed themselves to be used against the overall interest of the people of Nigeria, and thus incurred the wrath of a people that saw Dangote Refinery as the messiah that fulfilled the mandate of the NNPCL, which employed and paid them for years without any tangible success.
They could not see that stabilising the domestic supply of petroleum products, Dangote Refinery was also helping to stabilise the hitherto skittish naira, whose exchange rate has become a bit more predictable for the purpose of planning, though Nigerians still hope it would gain more strength against the hard currencies.
At a point, it looked as if the democracy that Nigeria began to operate from the beginning of this Fourth Republic somehow reduced Nigeria’s labour movement into an ineffectual and effete institution that could only bark, and not bite.
This affliction prevailed under the tenure of gadfly Adams Oshiomole, the diminutive former governor of Edo State and current senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, as president of the supposed grassroots Nigeria Labour Congress.
At a time when the labour unions could have engaged the fumbling political elite to forge an enduring Fourth Republic and secured better conditions of service for workers, they called strikes that were largely ignored by their members because they were neither clearly thought out nor intelligently executed.
The long military rule, the corrosive effect of the annulment of the presidential election presumed to have been won by Bashorun MKO Abiola, and the economic doldrums that resulted therefrom, had disillusioned Nigerians who were not exactly interested in protests that did not really improve their lot.
Perhaps the most effective action of the labour union was the picketing of commercial banks that would naturally act to avoid negative labour actions that could affect their image and operations. The banks usually acceded to labour demands so that they could get on with their businesses.
The idle labour union is now finding fodder for relevance in the pervasive insecurity, which has attracted the attention of countries like Britain, which releases regular travel advisories to its citizens in Nigeria, and America, which designates Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern over alleged persecution of Christians.
Though Nigeria currently faces dire security deficits, it appears that the Nigerian labour movement, which has not had a good run in recent times, and is now holding on to any straw that offers itself, as it fails to deliver on its primary assignment of workers’ welfare.
Though Nigeria’s most respected labour leader, Michael Imoudu, was regarded as a militant trade unionist who used his platform to also fight against colonialism, his major focus was on the quality of living of the workers, the raison d’etre of labour unions.
No one can really tell if Nigeria’s labour leaders of today are not only in it for bravado, posturing and access to political prominence and personal gains, which members of the public, the political elite and business class easily see through and meet with appropriate disrespect and spite.
Something that is most obvious is that today’s labour leaders do not seem to understand the place of data and logical reasoning that are driven by consultations from labour experts, economists, lawyers and accountants, as they negotiate with government and the organised private sector.
That must explain why they keep failing in their monotonous quest to compel the government and the private sector to increase salaries and wages of workers, even when it is neither reasonable nor feasible to do so. Just as a manager must not give an order that cannot be carried out, labour unions should also not make demands that cannot be met. Both will meet with deserved derision.
Because they approach government and the management of organised sector companies almost always without an adequate plan and data, the unions usually end up getting ridiculous offers that portray them as incompetent and uninformed.
Sometime in 2024, the unions initially demanded an unreasonable N615,000 minimum wage for workers, even rejected N494,000 offered by the government and the private sector, before shamelessly accepting a paltry N70,000, which some cheeky state governors, like those of Lagos and Edo, respectively, upped to N85,000 and N75,000.
If the union leaders knew that they were going to settle for a mere N70,000 minimum wage, why did they start with an unreasonable N615,000? They simply advertised their incompetence and lack of adequate preparation for such critical negotiations.
The government’s negotiating team, sensing that their opposite numbers were a bunch of unserious people, made them an offer that they were not intellectually equipped to interrogate or reject. This naturally translates to a longer term of oppressive economic thralldom for the poor workers of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s labour leaders must urgently get their groove together for a more meaningful outing on behalf of workers.
X:@lekansote1, lekansote.com
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