Our major task to liberate our country from neo-liberal policies – President, MHWUN

Barely a month from now, the Ni­geria Labour Congress (NLC) will hold its 11th Delegates Conference in the nation’s capi­tal city, Abuja, to get a new president and other executive members that will steer its affair for another four years The Conference Credential Committee is al­ready out with the list of contestants duly cleared for the election.

Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who is present­ly the President of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), is one of the leading candidates, vying for the coveted position of NLC President. In this interview, he speaks on his ambition and the changes he would bring to bear if he gets the mandate to lead the NLC.
Plans for the movement
I have a programme of actions that I want to put in place remembering the fact that in 1999 when the leadership of NLC emerged after a four-year ban by Abacha, the crux of the agenda was how to rebuild a new NLC coming out from the ban that affected most of our organisational structures, our finances and the capacity of the NLC then under a sole administrator, there were policies and programmes that were detrimental to the overall interest of Nigerian workers. The quest then was to build NLC into a fighting organisation that would earn the confidence of workers and also that of the employer. That, I think, has sufficiently been achieved if you look at 1999 to date.
But I think new issues are emerging because whether you like it or not, the fact now is that with globalisation, a lot of new issues are emerging, even gains that were made in the past are gradually being eroded, especially by neo liberal policies; outsourcing, which is affecting membership of unions on a daily basis, privatisation, most government corporations are being privatised and outsourced and the workforce is shrinking by the day which affects the socio-economic fabric of the country.
Unemployment is increasing by the day and therefore, these are serious challenges that I think as a centre we must take up headlong. Therefore, our major policy will be to engage these neo-liberal policies that are imposed by IMF and World Bank so we can liberate our country.
Fighting neo-liberal policies
There is always an alternative to every policy. Most policies that are being churned out by IMF and World Bank, a lot of other countries have had alternatives and it is working for them. Therefore, my preoccupation is to engage every policy that we think is detrimental to Nigerian workers and the masses and also come up with alternative. This we will do vigorously because we will not allow the gains that we have made in the past to be eroded. Our founding fathers made a lot of sacrifices and therefore had made a lot of gains for Nigerian workers. When you look at our labour laws, you find out they are one of the best around the world; on daily basis, you will hear people insinuating that they need the labour laws to be reviewed so that the gains made by workers can now be reduced. This will be a very serious contest.
Other plans for Nigerian workers
Part of our agenda is also to strengthen the unions and also the state councils as well as all our state structures. We cannot continue to be the fighting organization. As it is today, the capacity of some of our unions, because they have lost membership is going down. The capacity of our state councils is also going down. We have not been able to organize all the local government structures of NLC despite the fact that it is provided in the constitution; our first major task to galvanize all our structures, empower them both educationally in terms of capacity and also the quality of leadership that will emerge so that all of us will be on the same page and then we will have the capacity to fight those neo-liberal policies and also engage in meaningful dialogue with our employers because nothing good comes easy. Workers have to be on their feet to gain their freedom and also maintain whatever gain they have made in the past.
Relationship with other critical stakeholders
I think it is important we also try to unite because no organisation fights a battle when its house is divided. One of my major agenda is to see how we can unite and also make sure that our allies in the civil society organizations, women organisations, the student union organizations, who are now mostly on their own because we have not been able to harness them therefore, the politicians have harnessed them to themselves, it is never heard of that student union organizations will go and support anti-workers or anti-people policies. It is a very serious issue and we will be able to put a platform and reach out to them through our programmes of action. National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has been an integral part of NLC even during the military era. We fought a lot of battle with them because the university usually is our training ground where most activists emerge and that culture over the years has been eroded. These are some of the cultures that I think are very important that we revive, strengthen and use them as tools of change.
Promises to the Nigerian people?
Whether you like it or not, a lot of the policies have had very negative effect on the psyche of Nigerians and you can see some level of despair and disillusion; a lot of people have lost hope. One of my agenda is also to bring hope to the people, it is possible for us to unite and face the challenges because whether you like it or not, NLC does not only represent the interest of Nigerian workers, it also represents the interests of masses. That is why when you go down the history, most of our struggles, people buy into them because those policies have accommodated their concerns and their interests and it is also important for us to have a continuous enlightenment programme that will be able to carry the people along. If people don’t know what you are doing it is very difficult for them to buy into it and if there is an action that requires their support it will also be difficult for them to key into it.
Rekindle the fire in NLC
My major focus will be to bring back the principle and ideology of our founding fathers i.e., standing in for the workers, the Nigerian public and defending their interests whatever it takes and gaining their confidence. Basically, this will be the broad principle and we are going to have a lot of other factors to drive the process. A team of labour intellectuals are working on the details; how they would be achieved with timelines. Like I said earlier, from the beginning in 1999, we had a very good programme of action of rebuilding NLC from the shackles of the military and we have a lot of items put together to drive that process and that was what assisted us.
Recruitment process
Yes, we are also going to put a structure that will give youths a voice in the labour sector because whether we like it or not, there is the issue of aging which is also affecting our movement; the culture and the tradition that we are known for is gradually being eroded. Imagine the next 10 years, the crop of labour leaders that will be in place? We have not built enough in terms of succession. We are going to establish a youth wing and it will be strengthened so that all these ideologies that our founding fathers are known for and most of the trainings they have received across the world will continue to exist. Those opportunities are no longer there because most of them trained in the eastern bloc in a lot of labour training institutes across the globe and it was free in those days. Those institutes no longer exist. We also have a proposal to institutionalise the labour college, we are going to build a labour college and most of the exploits of our veterans within the labour movement have not been documented, we are going to document them. They are going to be the main resource persons in the labour college and the labour institute where policy issues will be examined and we will come up with informed decisions and positions that will guide our actions and in actions in order to effectively represent Nigerian workers. In the labour college setting, the youth and women are going to be well integrated because it has been proven all over the world that in every struggle that you want to succeed, you must take the youths on board. Therefore, our young workers will be, I don’t want to say indoctrinated, but they need to be trained and informed about how our struggles started, the ideology of how the unions came about and consciously impact into them the fact that they need to also to join the struggle. These are some of the critical structures that hopefully by the special grace of God, my team is working on and we will put in place. Over the years, this has not been done. Once we lose this crème of labour leaders possibly in the next 10 to 15 years, it will then be very difficult to get people to step into their shoes. That is why when you assess the leadership, you notice the steam is gradually scaling down not because people are not willing but because they don’t have the capacity and possibly also because they have not gotten the opportunity to be able to improve their skills. Basically, these are the broad ideas out of the many we are trying to bring on board.
Unity amongst the unions
One of the issues that also has been lacking is solidarity; if a union has a problem, in most cases, it is left on its own to sort it out. There has not been solidarity extended to unions. One major thing we are putting in place is the issue of solidarity in the sense that injury to one is injury to all. Any affiliate that has an issue with the employer, we will come in full force to support it. To give the union all the necessary assistance until the issue is sorted out.
This is the hallmark of trade unionism and the essence of even the labour centre. Labour centre is supposed to come to the aid of affiliates where workers have issues and those issues are not sorted out. Basically, we are going to make sure that those issues are addressed so that we are able to speak for Nigerian workers and able to speak for Nigerian masses. This is what they expect. I think the challenge is very enormous and we have a reasonable plan to be able to achieve them.
Unity in the congress
Today by the special grace of God, I have built my union to be one of the unions that are independent. The final project I will be leaving behind as president of MHWUN is N1.3 billion project. As at now, I have spent over N1.1 billion. It’s at 95 per cent completion. Debt-free, no levy. I have not levied any member. But from the resources of the workers, which was not there before I came. Most of you know the status of my union before I came. In 2003, we had only 8 delegates because we couldn’t pay. To pay salary was a problem. We were ejected from our former office because we couldn’t pay rent. That was the scenario I met on ground. When I came in, I said this thing can be changed. The membership didn’t change, the workers didn’t change. The people in the organization didn’t change but the leadership changed. Therefore I gave a new orientation. I am the first union to have in its saving account N1 billion. Before I went into that project I had N1billion savings. I have challenged most unions. Most unions borrow money to do project, to pay their affiliation fee. I have challenged NLC to go to the registrar of trade unions. On yearly basis I submit my audited account. In fact, before the first quarter of every year, I submit the audited account of the previous year to the registrar of trade union. I am the only union that pays affiliation to NLC per capital. Per capital means every worker, 10 per cent of what he pays to me goes directly to NLC. And that is why between 2011 and 2014, I have paid almost 560 million as affiliation. It is incredible. And that is why nobody can challenge me on the basis of competence. I have mobilised my members from local government.