By ADEYEMI ADELEYE

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the National Assembly not to heed calls to remove labour provisions from the Exclusive Legislative List to Concurrent List in the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.

The Lagos State NLC Chairman, Mrs Funmi Sessi, made the call on Saturday while making the union’s presentation at the Senate’s South-West Zonal Public Hearing on the Review of the 1999 Constitution in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the public hearing held simultaneously in all the six geo-political zones of the country.

She said the call became necessary owing to“attempts by some clandestine interests working with some legislators” to remove labour provisions in Schedule 1, Item 34 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.

“The plot was to enable state governments to fully institutionalise slave labour camps across the country through the deregulation of Nigeria’s labour laws.

“Nigerian workers rose against this travesty of social justice and manifestation of the epoch of man’s inhumanity to man.

“The grounds for the rejection of the bill by workers and the generality of Nigerians include the fact that the removal of Labour provisions from the Exclusive to the Legislative List would void the national minimum wage system.

“Nigeria signed up to this through the ratification on June 16, 1961, of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention No. 026.

“This will open the gates to slave wages across Nigeria. The removal of labour provisions would allow many state governors who already violate many laws to institutionalise the abuse of workers’ fundamental rights,” she said.

According to him, many state governments have shown such traits with the proscription of trade unions, even when trade unions are in the exclusive list.

“Little is left to imagination about what would happen if labour provisions were transferred to the concurrent list.

“This is the reason Nigerian workers view attempts at removing the labour provisions from the exclusive to the concurrent list as an existential threat against trade unions and equitable industrial relations in Nigeria.

“Nigerian workers are prepared to resist this internal colonialism with the last drop of their blood. We resisted this evil before. We will resist it again,” she said.

Making a case for electoral reforms, the labour leader called for a holistic and genuine implementation of the Late Justice Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee, to address challenges of recent elections.

She said: “The country needs an overhaul of our electoral laws now more than ever. A stitch in time might still saves nine.

“There is need for non-politicisation and democratisation of INEC in order to make Nigeria’s Electoral Management Body truly independent from partisan influence and control.

“We propose in line with the Uwais Report that the governance and management team of INEC should be constituted by nominees of society blocs including the Nigeria Bar Association Labour, women, Persons Living with Disabilities, CSOs and political parties with representations in National Assembly, faith-based organizations and media.

“The appointment process should be in line with the recommendations of the Justice Uwais Reform with the role of the President being to submit the recommendations made by the National Judiciary Council to the National Council of States of which an incumbent President is a member to decide.”

Sessi also called for establishment of what she called Electoral Offences Commission to serve as clear warning to anti-progressive and anti-democratic forces in the political space.

She said the establishment would ensure that perpetrators of electoral offences are squarely and timely held accountable for electoral malfeasance and violence.

The labour leader advocated unbundling of INEC into specialised agencies to deal with the recurring pre-election and post-election challenges.

Sessi said the rejig of the electoral system could be achieved through institutionalisation of what she called proportional representation (PR) and incremental substitution of First-Pass the-Post (FPTP) electoral system.

She also called for full adoption of electronic and diaspora voting.

On socio-economic, cultural and political issues, she said that NLC believe that it is important for Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution be made justiciable.

“This would be the foundation of restoring citizen-centric and accountable public governance in Nigeria,” she said.

Sessi also called for reforms to achieve gender equity for women and girls, improve management of public revenue, strengthen security architecture and strengthen the independence of oversight institutions.

She also reiterated need to address issues concerning the federal structure and power revolution, pension, local government and judicial autonomy, socio-economics and cultural rights, education, housing, and issues around poverty and wealth creation.

Sessi also demanded human rights and access to justice, repositioning of police and state creation.

Reacting, the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Jubrin Barau, who was represented by the Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, assured that the labour demands would get quality attention from the Senate.

“We are here to listen to you and to listen to the people of Nigeria, collating all issues raised and reports back to the Nation Assembly,” Barau said at the close of the two-day public hearing in Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that several organisations including youth, students and women groups, made presentations at the public hearing. (NAN)