Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), one of the two labour centres in the country, organised a nationwide protest against hunger, mass suffering and poverty, without the participation of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and this has led to several insinuations.

The President of TUC, Festus Osifo, in a chat gives insight into the issue by explaining that “Practically, the government came up and made some tough decisions. So after making those decisions, certainly Labour must also react as long as those decisions affect primarily the Nigerian workforce and the Nigerian workers. From May 29, when those decisions were made, it became pertinent that Labour also needed to respond. So between May 29 and now, I can tell you that there have been lots of engagements.

“There have been differences between us and government. There have also been areas that we have worked together with government to make some far reaching proposals on what we think government could do. If they had taken off with the way they have done deregulation of PMS, PMS would be selling for close to N1, 300 or N1, 400 today.

“But it is as a result of the intervention of the TUC, making some far-reaching proposals to those that are managing that sector. They also saw reasons with us on how to implement those proposals that we made quietly. That is a reason why PMS price is actually where it is today without paying subsidy directly.

“Yes, we are in challenging times and Labour will continuously seek the face of government. When necessary, we push them hard, when necessary, we serve ultimatum. If all these fall on deaf ears, then we go for the ultimate, which is strike,” he said.

On whether the present government is labour friendly, he stated that “It depends on the issues. We cannot put everything in one basket with the issues that we have today. We cannot just say the government is Labour-friendly or it is not. But what we could say is that some of the policies that the government has brought out since May 29, have been impacting very harshly on the Nigerian masses, while others seem to be a bit good.

“For instance, the one that aimed at removing double taxation which made the government to set up the team led by Taiwo Oyedele to look at fiscal policies and issues around taxation. It is something quite commendable. Again, the implementation of some of the recommendations from that committee is quite sluggish. Also, some of the interventions from the CBN for several years did not hold MPC meeting until few days ago when it had its monetary policy committee meeting and the decisions members took in the meeting.

“If they had met may be sometime in October, November, and they had taken these decisions at that time, maybe the inflation would have started going down. The MPC led by the CBN governor should meet regularly, interface regularly and there must be meeting point between the fiscal and monetary policies for some of these things that they are churning out to work,” he explained.

Speaking on NLC and TUC’s 14-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, “We issued that ultimatum more than two weeks ago but along the line, confusion set in. First, from our understanding from the TUC that when you issue an ultimatum, if for example you issue a 21-day ultimatum, what you do is that you sit down, you watch and see the reaction of the other party. If it is a 21-day ultimatum, at the 16th, 17th, 18th day, you will now do a review, to know what you will do after 21 days.

“So both parties ought to sit down, do a review and take a collective decision. But halfway into this, our sister congress announced a protest. That protest was also timed after the ultimatum has expired. So it became a bit confusing. There was no information to us. They did not reach out to us. When we asked, they said no, that it is not about the ultimatum, it is about the hunger. We said we issued ultimatum and if those issues are addressed, then there would not be any need for this. Those issues could even address the issue of hunger.

“We could tie both of them together but that confusion was what actually set in. Within the lifespan of the ultimatum, initially, government paid us just one month wage award, and that one month wage award was actually paid for September. They did not pay for October, November, December and January. In fact, that was one of the primary things that triggered the ultimatum. But within the 14 days of the ultimatum, they paid the remaining four months. Within the 14 days of the ultimatum, the issue of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN), which we had a protest in September last year in Lagos, came up. Today, the issue of RTEAN has been dispensed with.

“Within the 14 days as well, we also visited the refinery because it was part of the condition precedent that we have to visit the refinery. But the ones that are still subsisting are issues relating principally to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. On the issue of not taxing diesel, those issues are still there. They said that they have not taxed diesel for the past six months. From our verification, we think they are also correct. On the issue of tax holiday or tax relief for some certain sectors, they said they have implemented it. But we have asked for practical evidence on this.

“So relatively, they started moving immediately we issued that ultimatum. But both centers have not been able to sit down to harmonize, analyse and see where government is today, what and what have they done and what are pending, for us to communicate our next line of action?“ he insisted.

Speaking further on TUC frosty relationship with NLC, he said “Yes, if I say there is no frosty relationship, I am not saying the truth. I am also the president of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASAN), and our sister union in that sector is the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). Have you ever heard of any problem between PENGASAN and NUPENG? No, because we have worked collaboratively.

“There are areas NUPENG is strong, mostly in the downstream, there are areas PENGASAN is strong mostly in the upstream. But even as NUPENG is strong in the downstream, when there are issues in downstream, we work together. Where PENGASAN is strong in the upstream, when there are issues, we also work together with NUPENG to resolve it.

“That is how unions must collaborate and work. If you want to work together, nobody will like to be slighted. I lead the TUC and I have every right to protect the interest of the organisation I lead today. NLC held a NEC meeting and they decided to go on protest. We heard that members of NEC told the leadership to reach out to TUC and be on the same page. But did they do that? They did not do that.

“They went ahead and announced a date without reaching out to us. No, it is not done like that. When you hold your own meeting, you reach out to the other body about what you intend to do. We will also call our own, and then we will now synchronize and choose the date that is better. What if on the date you fixed, the other party has a function on that particular day? That is why you must come together, that is why you must harmonize to come up with a particular position.

“You could recall when the issue of Imo happened, the President (of NLC) was not there. I and other leaders of the TUC and the three NLC deputy presidents met. We worked together without any friction. TUC led the protest to the airport; we led the two days strike that happened. We led it in TUC. If we do not love them, would we champion that cause? We will not.

“I think they should also reexamine the way they carry us along if they want us to work together. We are independent trade centres. Each of us we can carry out an action whenever we deem fit. We have the capacity across the two ends to carryout unilateral action. But it is always best for us to work together,” he added. (Story adapted from Vanguard)

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