Veteran journalist and trade union activist, Joe Ajaero, recently emerged as the new President of the Nigeria Labour Congress through a rancour-free process. Onyebuchi Ezigbo examines the huge tasks ahead of the new labour leader, especially in a transition year.

Delegates of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) affiliate unions recently gathered in Abuja to elect a veteran trade unionist, Joe Ajaero, as the new President of the congress. Ajaero replaced Ayuba Wabba, who served in that capacity for eight years.

Before he was elected NLC president, Ajaero had served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), where he played a remarkable role in the labour movement and was a key member of the NLC collective bargaining and negotiation team. He also led the electricity workers to a series of engagements with the federal government over the welfare of the union members.

A dogged fighter, Ajaero led a strong opposition against the federal government after the privatisation of the electricity sector. In many instances, Ajaero had led the workers to defy government threats and embarked on nationwide strikes, shutting down the entire electricity infrastructure to compel the authorities to address workers’ welfare issues.

His election as the new President of the NLC has sparked speculation about what to expect during his tenure.

Aggressive Negotiations

Some analysts believe that the emergence of Ajaero as the new NLC President signals another era of combative trade unionism in the country, akin to the Adams Oshiomhole days as the NLC president. With the coming of Ajaero, better known for his aggressive negotiation style and hardline stance on policy issues, the government shouldn’t expect robust engagements with the organised labour this time, but rather, it should be ready for tough times in conflict resolution.

Already from the tone of his acceptance speech after being sworn in, Ajaero sounded like someone who would not only keep the pace but also raise the tempo of the struggle for the right of workers. His pledge to fight for better living conditions for the Nigerian masses immediately gave him out as someone prepared to go the extra mile beyond the mandate of demanding workers’ welfare.

Buoyed by the enormous support he got from delegates from various affiliate unions who converged at the International Conference Centre in Abuja to elect him unopposed, Ajaero rolled out the agenda of the incoming leadership at the NLC.

He said: “We shall seek to reconnect more strongly to build greater solidarities with the people of Nigeria rising once again to be the carriers of their desires and amplifiers of their voices. We shall speak for the 133m Nigerians who are multi-dimensionally poor and seek platforms to lift the shackles of poverty from the shoulders of our people.

“We shall again be the true champions of the Nigerian people, crying their cries and jointly waging our wars against all forces of impoverishment and misrule.”

In addition, he pledged to campaign for the review of the nation’s Labour Laws through the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC), which seems to have been stalled. He said this would ensure that all legal loopholes exploited by unscrupulous workplace partners to restrict the effort at making our workplaces more decent work compliant are blocked.

A further Indication of what to expect from the new NLC leadership was given when Ajaero said he would seek more profound engagement with governments at all levels more creatively in keeping with “our philosophical foundations and traditions.”

He stated that the approach would deepen existing engagements in various areas of our national lives while also opening new vistas to expand opportunities for Nigerian workers and people to freely express their capabilities and untie developmental factors in our nation over the next four years.

Collaboration

According to Ajaero, NLC will seek with our social partners, including key national stakeholders, to build a nation that would be more inclusive in all its ramifications and fair to all Nigerians, especially Nigerian workers. Ensuring, therefore, the reduction in decent – work deficits and the mainstreaming of the goals and outcomes of the SDGs will be a priority, including a drive for a more effective Social inclusion framework with strong legal and institutional foundations.

When he urged all employers who owe their workers, especially state governments that have yet to implement the last national minimum wage, to resolve them to avoid our intervention immediately, Ajaero sounded like one who will not have patience with employers of labour owing workers’ entitlement.

He said the NLC, under his leadership, would pursue with utmost urgency a new national minimum wage law that would take into consideration the objective realities of our socio-economy, expand its reach to capture more workers, and create variables and thresholds for automatic adjustment of the nation’s wage floor to avoid unnecessary politicking and impunity by our employers and reduce the suffering of Nigerian workers.

Ajaero said the NLC’s engagement with the government would assist governments in cutting down on the cost of governance; “cut out fats and reduce the opportunities for fat cats to raid the economy.”

“We shall seek our inclusion in various policy cycles and join hands with government to establish the supremacy of due process in public life, thus dismantling all structures and vestiges of rent-seeking, wastes, and misappropriation in public governance.”

Hardline Position of Fuel Subsidy Removal

Promising to protect Nigerian workers against any oppressive policies, Ajaero said, “NLC shall continue in its tradition of ensuring that Nigerians are protected from all anti-people policies and that corruption in administration is reduced to the barest minimum. At the same time, the government would be assisted to work for the majority.

Therefore, we shall robustly engage the government to stop the impunity and pervasive wickedness in the country in the name of petroleum product pricing”.

In the energy sector, Ajaero said he would stick to the position of organised labour on subsidy for imported petroleum products. He warned against any attempt by the incoming government after May 29 to first remove the subsidy on petroleum products before embarking on full rehabilitation of our petroleum refineries.

He made It very clear that the NLC, under his leadership, would declare a full battle against anyone who tries to remove the subsidy because Nigerian workers would not be allowed to go through any more economic hardship.

On Electricity Tariff

Ajaero further said that the current electricity tariff and provisioning remained stacked against Nigerian workers and masses, adding that the NLC will work with the government to bring sanity to bear on that sector.

“We urge the federal government again to review the privatisation of the electricity sector; a process both the government and all of us have agreed was mired in corruption.

“Nigeria is critically challenged and faces existential threats both from within and without. The trade union movement is likewise confronted, but the contradiction is that we are expected to be one of the key platforms in causing a national reawakening. It is now incumbent upon us to delve deeply into our historical resolve to purge ourselves, rebuild our strength, and reactivate our organic solidarities, including our broad solidarities, to strategically position ourselves to respond to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerian workers and people.”

Under the new dispensation, Ajaero recognises the importance of solidarity and partnership with various affiliates and partners to strengthen to drive workers’ agitation; hence he said that the strength of NLC as a labour centre would be built on the strength and capacities of affiliate unions.

NLC-ASUU

Another thing to watch out for is the growing solidarity between the NLC and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

With a combination of Ajaero as NLC president and Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke calling the shots at ASUU, the incoming government will find the duo a tough nut to crack in times of labour dispute.

While criticising the outgoing administration for causing the current economic chaos, as evidenced by the currency swap crisis and scarcity of petroleum products, ASUU stated that it would work with patriotic Nigerians in labour and civil society to resist anti-people policies and alleviate people’s suffering.

Osodeke had said in a statement on the current state of affairs in the country that ASUU would work closely with the new leadership of the NLC and other patriotic Nigerians to protect and further the interests and well-being of all Nigerians at all times. (THISDAY)

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