Activist and President, United Labour Congress (ULC), Joe Ajaero, in this interview with Assistant Politics Editor, Daniel Kanu, carpets the Muhammadu Buhari-led government in Nigeria, explains his grouse with governance in his state of origin, Imo, and Labour-related issues.
Most Nigerians believe that Labour has compromised with the government and no longer protecting the interest of the masses. Do you agree?
Well Labour agitation can’t be treated in isolation. Don’t forget that Labour is part and parcel of the country; and whatever happens to Labour is a reflection of the society.
You can’t have more than eight million Nigerians on paid employment; so if we are approximating the population of Nigeria at 170 million, what happens to about 160 million Nigerians? Are they better off? Are they faring well? If they are not doing well definitely it has the tendency to affect Labour. Besides it is the strength of Labour centres, and Labour unity. Some of the factors bedeviling the political class have also affected labour unions. For instance, the rigging elections, factions springing up etc. So it behooves on Labour to go back to the drawing board and put its house in order and forge a united front to do some of the things expected them to do for their members and by extension to Nigerians.
I think Labour is feeling the way other Nigerians are feeling.
Has Labour compromised or perhaps hamstrung under the President Buhari’s government?
Labour cannot be said to be hamstrung. I have not seen that yet. I have seen Labour operate under the highest level of dictatorship – that was the time you separated the boys from the men. Labour only needs to do internal surgical operation to become stronger. There may be antics; but that couldn’t be such that Labour cannot surmount and even operate well without challenges. I think what is also happening is that the level of greed by politicians have done more harm than trying to muzzle Labour. And don’t forget that Labour leaders are Nigerians; some of them are equally involved in the craze to amass wealth. Some of them might be gullible but talking generally one can’t say that is the problem of Labour.
Problem of Labour is that of unity, having people who are not properly mentored, having people who are not courageous and having docile membership and if you have a docile membership just as you have a docile citizenry the level of the fire of agitation will equally be low.
As an insider and a leader of a powerful Labour group are there genuine moves for such unity among Labour factions?
Well for me unity is not just restricted to one method; there could be unity of purpose; and I think that is the area we are going to look at more. If we are united, for instance, on the minimum wage, there is unity of purpose. Every worker, every unionist believes that the condition of employment particularly on wage condition is not the best and deserves to be reviewed. That one is unity of purpose; but whether we should all be in one house, whether we should answer one surname; that one is not on the table. No one is thinking about it. Wherever our welfare is affected, we speak with one voice. That is something I can’t take away from any Labour leader.
The issue of casualization still lingers. Do you think there will ever be an end to it?
There may not be an end to it so long as the new concept of globalization exists. Some of the blue chip companies come here with the purpose of maximizing profit, with the purpose of dispossessing Labour and you know Labour is a strong force of production. If you recall the battle between labour and capital has been on since ages; so for them when they price labour cheap they make more profit. They pick Labour and drop them (workers) and what do they gain by that? When you casualise Labour they are not entitled to pension and gratuity and they remain susceptible to you and that is what is happening. This is what you get in countries where their Labour laws are not strong, where their leaders are not patriotic to come up with strong Labour laws that will protect citizenry. If you have a country that left its borders open to global players then that is the type of things that happen. But when countries come up with strong leadership, and with strong legislation to empower their citizenry then such countries do well. Two areas: Since the Nigeria’s borders are open and the people at the driver’s seat have decided not to pay much attention to the it, the problem will continue. The very moment you have a Labour-friendly leadership or even people in Labour emerging in positions of leadership they will understand what is on board and find a way of resolving it. But as at today most unions that do not have strong structures, strong leaders, strong personalities will find it difficult to combat casualization to a standstill.
For us in ULC, we have urged the National Assembly to re-introduce the bill that criminalises the non-payment of salaries in the country. When you have strong legislation and strong leadership, Labour issues will receive the needed attention.
The government in power says Nigeria is out of recession but most citizens seem to be passing through terrible hardship. What is your take on this contradiction?
I was one of the people who said right from the inception that what we have is leadership recession in the sense that you don’t seem to understand the direction we are moving towards and in such situation Nigerians will be complaining. Today if you ask: what is the policy trust of this present administration, it is difficult to find out. And if it is so you will now understand why the people are confused. Maybe because a cup of garri is still selling the same thing, maybe because people are now exporting cassava outside the country when we don’t have enough here, maybe government is continuing with the economic trust of the previous administration and they are still importing finished petroleum products while selling the raw ones. They sell cassava and buy garri. So when the leadership continues in the same pattern there will be confusion. If Nigerians are selling cassava abroad and there is not enough garri in the country you should ask yourself couldn’t they have looked at those things that will give us comparative and competitive advantage as a nation? It needs policy directive of a government to adequately address all these. The very moment you have a government with strong economic policy things will change. You don’t need to move money out from the Central Bank to create artificial parity in the foreign exchange. When you take certain measures the currency will take its normal shape.
For instance, on smuggling, by the time you have products here and there are functional factories, it will be very expensive to smuggle products into the country. But if the local factories are not working and the borders are porous and people smuggle things at will then you are not running any economy.
How would you situate the Buhari-led government?
I think there is a Buhari and there is his government. I have not seen a synergy between Buhari and operators of Buhari’s government. I have not seen a synergy in terms of policy and ideology, I have not seen a government run based on spelt out ideology, that this is the way we want to do things. I have seen a Buhari that is there arrested by Ill-health. As at today we believe that he may be having good intentions that have not been translated to good governance as far as the people are concerned. Most of us still hold it that this man (Buhari) may have certain things in stock for us but he has not put them to practice. And I am not sure may be one or two people in his cabinet share the same view with him.
To be frank with you I am not sure Buhari was properly advised on the caliber of people he appointed as ministers. If the last leg of his administration is to be taking seriously he has to rework his cabinet.
Is it true you are having a governorship ambition?
I don’t know how to go about this now but let me say ambition is common to everybody and I have the right to be ambitious. I wish and it has been my hope that today or tomorrow I am somewhere bigger than where I am today, whether as governor or some other positions. I want an opportunity to demystify governance. I think people, particularly those in government like governors should not be praised for paying salaries or constructing roads, providing jobs etc. But the process of achieving it (my ambition) in a country like Nigeria where it is meant for money bags is another headache and the period of actualizing it is another headache. There is the need for us to give the people good governance. There is the need to give our people good governance, good roads, productive sector, a happy work force etc.
For instance, in my state, Imo, the man who is answering governor there could be anything but a governor. I have not seen it that bad. All that the late Sam Mbakwe tried to do or achieved even as at 1979 are all vanished, whether Imo University, Imo Airport, Concord Hotel, Ada Palm, Poultry in Avutu, leather industry etc. all have been sold. Amaraku Power Project today if you resuscitate it there will be no power failure and you can power industrialization in the state but when you see what is happening you weep. At the appropriate time when we ask ourselves the right questions and answer the questions rightly we can now step out.
As a person that has a covenant with the people you just need to prioritize because you cannot carry everything the same time. If you create employment you will be feeding a lot of people. You look at agriculture, address infrastructure, education, provide constant electricity, create cottage industries; it’s doable; that’s my area, good road network etc. All these one can do with careful planning and some of these things do not cost much. It’s just good vision. Some will tell you they have done 100 roads and none is motorable. There is nothing so difficult about governance if you know what to do. I have an ambition to be governor or some other things but time will tell. I don’t know how soon.
