Obasanjo versus Labour
By Levi Obijiofor
EVERY time President Olusegun Obasanjo takes on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), he comes out the loser. Yet the fighter in him keeps nudging him to fight on. I think Obasanjo is giving a wrong interpretation to the voices in his head and the rhythm of his heart. It is not every time that your inner spirit tells you to jump that you must jump. Obasanjo hasn't learnt his lessons yet and he is just about to lose again in his sleepless attempt to score points and annihilate the labour movement in the country. There is an underlying message in William Shakespeare's widely quoted dictum: it is excellent to have a giant's strength but it is tyrannous to use it like a tyrant. As an elected president, Obasanjo has executive powers. But he needs to be careful that, in his actions, he does not misuse those powers conferred on him by the Constitution.
If the NLC makes good its threat to embark on a mass protest next Tuesday (24 August), the labour movement would have succeeded in disrupting work for that day. It would also imply the NLC has successfully embarked on industrial strikes or some kind of industrial strikes no fewer than three times in the past seven months. That would be a record by any standards. We now have with us a clear evidence of interminable industrial unrest in the country. The frequency of strikes is enough to irritate the presidency and indeed question Obasanjo's ability to maintain industrial peace nationwide. Perhaps that is what has informed the industrial reform bill submitted by the presidency to the National Assembly. But a democratic leader who is concerned about the impact of too many industrial strikes on the nation's economy should not be seeking to kill off one of the hallmarks of modern democracy - the freedom of workers to associate freely and to belong to unions.
If Obasanjo is concerned about the frequency of NLC strikes, he should be seeking ways and means of engaging the labour leaders in effective dialogue. Dialogue is the only non-confrontational approach to the problem of industrial strikes. Generating a bill intended to de-register the NLC is not only provocative but also likely to produce more strikes and industrial instability. I do not think these are what Obasanjo and his economists expect to be the direct outcome of the new law (if passed by the National Assembly) but instability is likely to be the dividend. The national executive council of the NLC has already described the industrial reform bill as "a recipe for industrial crisis both in public and organised private sector", a euphemism for more impetuous industrial actions.
In his eagerness to win the ongoing battle with labour leaders, Obasanjo has to be careful that his high-handed anti-labour bill does not turn the trenchant labour leaders into martyrs. Perhaps more important for the image of the presidency and the country " now that the government has launched an image project " Obasanjo has to ensure that his current personality clash with NLC president Adams Oshiomhole is not interpreted as anti-democratic by international observers. There is no doubt that the attempt by Obasanjo to eliminate industrial unionism has polarised the entire country.
As argued in this column some weeks ago, the best way to tackle industrial disputes is not to create an atmosphere for more industrial strikes. That is what Obasanjo's bill is likely to generate. Both sides are digging deep and labour has already indicated its determination to picket the National Assembly. Obasanjo, on his part, has been saying nice things about the cordial relationship between the presidency and the members of the National Assembly. At the opening in Minna of a three-day retreat by the House of Representatives, Obasanjo reminded us that it is not unusual for the executive and legislative arms of government to work together. When it suits Obasanjo he sings the praises of the House of Representatives. Obasanjo's words: "We now have a House that is becoming a willing partner and a working companion of a decidedly reformist executive, an executive that is persistent without impudence and generous without undue indulgence. That is the new kind of executive-legislature relations that we must have with the National Assembly. Mischief makers choose to call it compromise, but I call it concord."
In his typical chameleon style, Obasanjo did not end his address without warning the legislators against adjusting his budgets. His words again: "After painstaking efforts in consultation and preparation of budgets by the executive, mutilating it in an unworkable way for individual or collective self-interest cannot augur well for development." Is Obasanjo a democrat or a tyrannical dictator pretending to be a democrat His words and his actions point us to one conclusion: he is a dictator. Obasanjo still finds it difficult to relinquish his authoritarian personality.
Ever since the presidency drafted and submitted the so-called labour reform bill, the NLC leadership had suspected that Obasanjo was determined to continue his ill-informed fight against unions in the country. That bill, and the speed with which the National Assembly has been examining it, including Obasanjo's request that the bill be given urgent attention by the legislators, signalled to the NLC that Obasanjo's determination to "finish off" the NLC as a body that represents workers nationwide should not be taken lightly. But Obasanjo's obsession with and his desire to manufacture anti-labour laws represent a sad commentary on the government's amateur approach to industrial relations. Two weeks ago, I wrote about Obasanjo's devil-may-care attitude to demands by NLC leaders and how the lack of dialogue between the presidency and the union leaders has resulted in an industrial gridlock in the country.
Prior to January 21 this year, the day the NLC leadership set aside as the commencement date for an all-out industrial strike over increases in the prices of petroleum products, Oshiomhole described the then impending nationwide strike as "the mother of all strikes". He may have spoken rather too early. The NLC's battle to retain labour unions in Nigeria and Obasanjo's determination to kill labour unions will determine not just the future landscape of industrial relations in the country but also the future image of Obasanjo as an anti-democratic leader, as well as the position of Oshiomhole as the voice of the common people. The nation is faced with the real mother of all disputes. The bill designed to kill off the labour movement in Nigeria will either leave labour leaders with huge scars on their faces or it will leave a huge dent on Obasanjo's image.
The National Assembly must consider in good faith the likely impact of the bill on the ability of Nigerians to enjoy in future the basic freedoms guaranteed in a democracy. That is the real concern. A decision made today could have serious consequences for the guarantee of basic democratic freedoms in the country. The National Assembly must tread carefully.
