Senate rejects planned visit, Labour insists on rally
By Prisca Egede, Mary Akparanta (Lagos) and Hendrix Oliomogbe (Benin)
THE Senate and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday failed to reach a consensus on today's planned protest by the workers' body.
While the NLC assured the upper house that the exercise would be peaceful, the Senate said it was not prepared to receive the Labour demonstrators on any terms.
In a reaction to the Senate's action last night, the NLC said it was shelving the visit to the National Assembly.
After a meeting with congress leadership on the development, Oshiomhole said: We have decided to go ahead with today's rally but it will be restricted to the NLC headquarters at the Central Business Area, Abuja instead of the planned city-wide rally and visit to the National Assembly."
According to him, "since the National Assembly members say they do not think we should come, in deference to them, we will keep off because we do not want to give anybody excuse to misunderstand us."
He added: "Like we said earlier, I am still insisting that this rally is not meant to be hostile or to antagonise the legislators. It is meant to give the ordinary workers an opportunity to talk with their lawmakers but since they feel this way, we cannot do otherwise. All we are seeking to do is to ask them to ignore the bill in the overall interest of Nigerians and our democracy."
In a letter written to the NLC Acting General Secretary, Mr. Owei Lakemfa by the Senate Leader, Alhaji Dalhatu Tafida on behalf of the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, the senators explained that they were not favourably disposed to the protest.
Labour plans to use the rally to draw the National Assembly's attention to the lapses in the Federal Government's bid to decentralise the NLC as the umbrella body of workers in Nigeria. The government intends to achieve the goal through an amendment of the Trade Unions Act of 1976. The NLC is equally protesting the new Pensions Reforms Act.
Tafida sent a copy of the letter to the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun.
The IG promptly despatched a team headed by Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Mr. Mike Okiro to confer with the NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole.
But the Force Public Relations Officers, Mr. Chris Olakpe, has warned Labour against going ahead with the rally.
Olakpe asked Labour to instead dialogue with the government to end the impasse.
Okiro during his 40-minute talks with Oshiomhole, asked him to respect the Senate's position on the rally.
His visit to the NLC headquarters was a follow-up to an earlier attempt by Balogun to meet with Oshiomhole.
Balogun had to call off the visit when he learnt that Oshiomhole was attending the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) delegates conference.
Okiro accompanied by the Commissioner of Police in charge of Mobile force men in Abuja at exactly 3.30 p.m, met with Oshiomhole to convey the feelings of the senators and urged the NLC to comply with it.
After the meeting, Oshiomhole led the leadership of the NLC to the National Assembly to meet with the Assembly's leadership.
The meeting, according to NLC sources, was to explain to the legislators that the visit would be peaceful. "It is only a mass and peaceful representation of workers to the Assembly over the bill, that is save our soul (SOS) call on the legislators and not an attack on them," the source explained.
Oshiomhole reportedly met with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Malam Aminu Masari. He was also scheduled to meet with Wabara.
But Olakpe said: "We are calling for dialogue and understanding on the part of the NLC. We want the NLC to be law-abiding and adopt dialogue not confrontation."
He reminded Labour that the Public Order Act is still in force, and advised individuals or groups that planned to organise any protest to get permission from the police 24 hours before the time.
"The Public Order Act as well as section 45 of the 1999 Constitution provide that police permit must be sought before any rally, procession or protest could take place," he said.
Olakpe said: "If the NLC insists on holding the rally, my advise is that they should apply and get a permit 24 hours before the time".
Meanwhile more Nigerians and groups at the weekend criticised the government's bid to weaken Labour under the guise of decentralising or democratising trade unions activities in the country.
The House of Representatives Deputy Minority Leader, Mr. Emmanuel Arigbe-Osula and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), said that the bill by the executive was vindictive.
Arigbe-Osula of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), said that the decision by President Olusegun Obasanjo amounted to silencing the last bestion of opposition to the perceived dictatorial tendencies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration.
He called on Nigerians to resist the bill. The opposition leader also remarked that the reason for the controversial bill was quite obvious: "Organised labour under the leadership of Adams Oshiomhole has been in the vanguard of the struggle against the anti-people policies of this administration, so the only way to deal with Labour is through the passage of the Labour Reform Bill," he said.
The lawmaker likened the move to throwing away the baby with bath water, predicting that "when Labour is crushed, Nigerians will witness a full-fledged dictatorship under Obasanjo as there will no longer be any opposition to his tyrannical rule."
Arigbe-Osula who spoke in Benin, the Edo State capital added: "We will not support the anti-Labour Bill because it is anti-people. It is like everybody has been conquered in Nigeria and the only organised opposition to the anti-people policies of the government is Labour. Now, the government wants to kill Labour and want us to support it. Never."
Also ASUU has called on the government to withdrawal the bill to restructure Labour.
ASUU National President, Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano told journalists in Lagos yesterday that what Nigerians needed "is not a law to weaken Labour, not "vindictive legislation with no patriotic motivation".
Sule-Kano said that the workers had through their structures and actions demonstrated their acceptance of the NLC, which the government should not tampered with through legislative fiat.
He described the Labour Reform Bill as undemocratic and unconstitutional in all its provisions.
The don therefore asked the National Assembly not to entertain it to prove that they are truly the representatives of the people.
"The issue at stake is so important that legislators must think beyond the wishes of their party bosses and the President. The issue is the future of democracy, the Federal Government has the option of addressing, reviewing and reversing the policies that cause disaffection and Labour unrest, this is a better way," he said.
The new ASUU chief, who came into office early this year, is a lecturer at the Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto.
Sule-Kano said that a thorough examination of the bill showed that it was dangerous to the attainment of good life for most Nigerians, stressing that castrating organs that defend the poor would not serve the country's interest either in the long or short-run.
He continued: "It will ensure that workers rights are respected only in breach, allow the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank prescriptions to be forced on the Nigerians without resistance, which is the essence of the new amendment and ensure that the wealth that should provide jobs, education, healthcare, houses, roads and others for the people is used to pay debt to the Paris and London clubs.
"The government should not as in other places see workers to their graves under World Bank supervision," he said.
The don also spoke on the new University Autonomy Bill.
He asked Nigerians to resist it in the interest of national development, arguing that the University Miscellaneous Provisions Amendment Act 2003" had a lot of implications for university education in Nigeria.
He said the provisions of the Act in terms of autonomy, management and reorganisation of the universities affected the composition of councils, pattern of disbursement of funds, procedures for appointing and removing vice-chancellors and the constitution of the Senate. The law was not implemented until the government presented another amended version to the legislature.
Sule-Kano accused the government and the National Universities Commission (NUC) of employing surreptitious moves to get the National Assembly to pass the bill that the previous legislature had passed and signed into law by the President on July 10, 2003.`
