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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, August 09, 2004.
Is
anti-labour bill pay back time for NLC?
By
Uchenna Awom
National Assembly Correspondent, Abuja
Unfortunate! Unfortunate!! Very unfortunate,
very, very unfortunate that two major institutions that have not betrayed
the sources of their power and inspiration are gradually parting ways.
Oh, what a horror for the Nigerian people! Too bad. Yes, the relationship
between the House of Representatives and the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC) can best be captured with these awe-inducing exclamations.
The
bewilderment is understandable, if for no other reason, but for the
simple fact that these two organs of society have all the time complimented
each other in the quest to free the people from the burdensome yoke of
poverty and class oppression. It is therefore unfortunate that as it is
today the love seems to be heading to the abyss unless some kind of
divine intervention appeals to the matured minds of the central actors in
this disagreement or better still a quick recourse to the
instrumentalities of internal mechanism available to both groups to
completely resolve the problems.
The
outcome of last week’s motion which sought to condemn the arrest
penultimate week of two NLC officials by agents of the State Security
Service (SSS) in the National Assembly pointedly lay credence to the
nauseating animosity which will in no time reverberate down the Nigerian
political environment with the eventual passage of the Trade Union Reform
Bill that is now before both chambers.
If
the rejection of the motion was bad, then the comment of the Chief Whip,
Bawa Bwari, a cognate member of the House, while enthusiastically
opposing the motion moved by Haruna Yerima, an All Nigeria People’s Party
(ANPP) member from Borno State, was worse and psychologically brutalizing
enough for the NLC to start packing its documents preparatory to starting
the pitiable march to the dustbin of labour history.
Bwari
had said during the debate that Wednesday afternoon on the floor of the
House that he can picture the day NLC members clutching brooms stormed
the National Assembly premises at the twilight of the past session of the
legislature, chanting, merrying and telling the whole world that they had
come to sweep the lawmakers away, for daring to enforce the independence
of the parliament.
Besides,
the lawmaker reminded his colleagues that the labour officers, aware of
the laid down procedures in distributing documents to lawmakers, chose
instead to flagrantly ignore the rules to do what they did, adding that
they would rather be cautioned, while also regretting that the SSS acted
to the extreme
His
line of argument and the point raised suggests ominously that it may be a
pay back time for the NLC, apparently for not taking into consideration
that ‘this day will come’.
Moving
the motion, which was already contained in the notice paper of the
previous day, the sponsor, Yerima,, carefully listed four-point prayers,
that the House resolve to:
•
condemn the arrest of the Labour leaders who were only exercising their
democratic rights, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution;
•
urge the security agencies to refrain from hindering Nigerians from
exercising their fundamental human rights anywhere in the country;
•
urge the security agencies to educate their personnel on the tenets of
democracy in order to cause a change in their behavioural disposition in
the performance of their duties; and
•
mandate the committees on Justice and Human Rights to investigate the
circumstances of the arrest of the Labour leaders and report to the House.
But
in the course of the debate, House Leader Abdul Ningi, in what appeared
to be a deliberate design aimed at shooting down the motion, sought the leave
of the House to read a letter from Mr. A. J. Oludoyi, the director of SSS
attached to the National Assembly.
Oludoyi
in the letter told members that: “Attention of his office has been drawn
to a notice of motion moved by Haruna Yerima, during the plenary session
of the House on 3rd August, 2004.
“Although
we do not intend to pre-empt deliberations on the motion, which has now
been fixed for 4th August, 2004, this office however, in line with its
operational principle of pro-activity, feels it is very necessary to
brief your office on what transpired on that fateful day in order to put
issues in proper perspective and provide appropriate guidance to the
Honourable House”.
The
SSS boss towards the end of his letter did what can easily pass as an act
of ego massaging of the lawmakers, indirectly lobbying that they take a
second look at the motion that would have cast aspersion on the service.
He wrote: “ The concern and intervention of the Deputy Speaker in the
speedy, amicable, matured and professional handling of the matter is very
instructive and highly appreciated. If anything, the event of the day has
consolidated mutual respect between the Labour and this office; more so,
both parties ended on peaceful and very civil note.
“It
is only stating the obvious that the National Assembly Complex, like the
Presidential Villa and the Supreme Court is a hallowed and revered place
that should not be accessed by just anyone without proper clearance and
authorization.
“This
office is not unaware of comments by the honourable members and
distinguished Senators over embarrassing incidents, where they were
accosted and confronted by uninvited visitors, hangers-on and
unidentified strangers seeking one favour or the other. It bears to
reiterate that it is the statutory responsibility of this service to
provide adequate physical security and conducive environment for our
lawmakers. This we do not intend to compromise, just as we uphold the
rule of law”.
Like
tonic, the debate, which was heavily skewed in favour of the motion
sailing through, nose dived as members who hid behind the cloak of the
large number of lawmakers not to be ‘dangerously marked’ as opponents of
the state service, suddenly woke up as they scrambled and were literally
jumping on their feet to be recognised for contribution by the Speaker,
vociferously spoke against the motion, telling labour whose members
watched proceedings from the gallery to change their ways and caution
their men to act with decorum and not to desecrate the hallowed chambers
of the National Assembly. Labour was pointedly told to follow proper
procedures when next they want to ‘reach out to the legislators’. One by
one the members tore the motion to shreds to the consternation of those
who supported it and people at the public gallery.
At
the end, the House resolved not to even utter words of regret over the
arrest of the two NLC officers let alone condemning it outright.
Rather,
the House feebly resolved to uphold only one of the prayers, which was to
‘urge the security agencies to educate their personnel on the tenets of
democracy in order to cause a change in their behavioural disposition in
the performance of their duties’.
Pity
that the feeble resolution preceded the emotional plea of Yerima and
others. He had reminded his colleagues to note that Nigeria is now a
fully democratic nation with all democratic institutions in place
performing their functions and also to note that democracy is a system of
government that ensures human dignity, freedom of expression,
association, speech and development of the material conditions of the
people.
He
again recalled that NLC participated in the struggle for the enthronement
of democracy in 1999 and was at the forefront of the struggle to get the
then incarcerated President Olusegun Obasanjo out of jail. Besides, he
told his colleagues to be conscious of the fact that the National
Assembly as the body representing the entire Nigerian electorate is the
nerve centre of democracy.
Yerima
stated that it should therefore be the concern of the lawmakers that
people with genuine and legitimate missions are not allowed to exercise
their democratic rights in the premises of the National Assembly
unhindered. As such they should be disturbed that the National Assembly
personnel arrested some labour leaders while in the premises of the
National Assembly distributing handbills and lobbying Honourable members
to critically examine the Labour Bill currently before the House.
Not
done, Alex Nwofe, chairman House Committee on Justice, pointed out to the
House after Ningi read the SSS director’s letter, that in the first
place, the House should ignore the reasons advanced in that letter,
because the SSS deliberately violated the security rules which requires
them to subject themselves and all matters that will lead to arrest of
persons to the authority of the Sergent-at-arms who is the Chief Security
Officer of the parliament.
Well,
what had happened may be a tonic to what should be expected in the
anti-labour bill. Which points steadily to the obvious fact that NLC may
be no more and as such, there goes the last bastion of the people’s
defence.
When this is done eventually,
then the House and by extension the entire National Assembly will come to
the painful realization that they have wittingly laid themselves bare. So
watch it. It may be pay back time now, but it may turn out to be a very
dangerous sore game.
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