The following paper was recently presented, in early March 2022, at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) “Workers Political Conference” by Professor Yusufu Ali Zoaka, the Lead Paper Presenter. As an academic and trade unionist, Prof Zoaka identifies the first of the main impediments against political engagement by trade emancipation as unity among the labour forces, the numerous socialist groups and civil society groups. He concludes by calling on the working people to close ranks under the leadership of the NLC to lead all into a more prosperous society that should promote equity, justice and fair play for all.
COMMITMENT TO NATIONAL EMANCIPATION AND DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EFFECTIVE POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT BY NIGERIAN WORKERS
By
Professor Yusufu Ali Zoaka
Department of Political Science and International Relations
Faculty of Social Science
University of Abuja.
Being a paper presented at a one day conference organized by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) On the theme: Commitment to National Emancipation and Development through Effective Political Engagement by Nigerian workers at the NAF Conference Center Kado-Abuja on 2nd March,2022.
Introduction
Let me first thank the organizers for inviting me to this important international forum.
The history of workers political struggle has not been an easy one. Workers create wealth that enslaves them. The feudal lords, slave owners and capitalists only possess the instruments of wealth creation. It is only when these instruments (land, capital, machines and raw materials) collide with labour that wealth is created. The surplus that accrues after deducting the cost of production (profits) is appropriated by the ruling class and the owners of the means of production. This surplus is what is denied the working people but it is appropriated by the bourgeois class which enables it to call the shots through bribery corruption and sabotage of the people to perpetuate itself economically, socially and politically.
Workers tired of their exploitation and domination by the ruling classes will organize themselves outside the traditional approach consigned by capitalism to workplace struggles or bread and butter struggles to struggle for emancipation. Therefore, the struggle for freedom or emancipation is not a struggle that started today but it has been the hidden struggle of the workers against domination, exploitation and oppression by the state against the working people. This struggle has taken the dimension of asking for wage increase as recorded in the 1945 strike action called by Nigeria workers to ask for increase in ‘COLA’ (cost of living allowance), as it was then known, to the current struggle for a thirty thousand naira minimum wage increase which has been swallowed by the bad economic policies of the government even before arrival.
In this presentation, we shall examine the concepts that are prominent in this paper namely: ‘national emancipation and development’ and ‘effective political engagement’. After an explication of the concepts, the paper will provide a brief historical background of workers struggles for emancipation with few instances around the World where such struggles have paid off positively, after which the paper will discuss the areas of engagement that have been left unattended to which promotes political apathy in workers who hardly turn out to vote and what needs to be done to change the situation as we approach 2023.
Explication of Emancipation – this literarily has to do with freedom. Therefore National Emancipation has to do with freedom nationally in a nation state or country. This is important because when a country is free from domination at national level, the regional, state and local government oppressors can easily be dislodged in their respective territories. This therefore means that the paper will adopt a unique style in order to address the major issue confronting organized labor and whether or not they should actively and more effectively participate in the political affairs of the state or they should remain adamant and nonchalant to their freedom. Consequently the paper will draw from experiences around the world and the most effective way to engage a predatory and ravaging class of political interlopers.
Political development has been viewed by most western scholars to involve a upscaling or upgrading of a political system from traditional society to a modern society with characteristics that allow for inputs and outputs which can be seen in the three outputs of rule making, rule application and rule adjudication. Almond also noted that the inputs functions of the institutions include political socialization and recruitment, interest articulation, interest aggregation, political communication. Therefore the more specialize political institutions become the more they are able to maintain equilibrium and stability while the more the political system becomes incapable of maintaining equilibrium the more it goes into political crises that may lead to its collapse. Although Riggs noted that this may not work in all situations as witnessed in developing societies where the institutions are weak they are not able to carry out such roles.
Therefore as Ake (1982) noted that to develop a fit all model for political development so that Third World Countries will copy cannot guarantee development because it is rather a way of perpetuating the dominance of the West on Third Societies ensuring that they are firmly under their grip as generation of scholars that will be trained will receive training on how to perpetuate their underdevelopment through brain washing of Africans to think all that comes from African society is bad while everything received from the Europeans is the best and should be emulated, this amounts to imperialism. This views are well canvassed in the classic work Social Science as Imperialism.
Political engagement
When the term political engagement is used it basically refers to how people participate in politics. The traditional methods of engagement is to participate in rallies, campaigns, voting and in political parties. However, this traditional view of participation or political engagement is paving the way for the digital revolution that has taken place since the turn of the century. More recent literature, however, has argued that engagement is changing again in response to the emergence of digital communication technologies, deepening processes of globalisation and shifting centres of political power.
The changing nature of political engagement is usefully captured by Norris (2002: 215-216), who argues that ‘rather than eroding, political activism has been reinvented in recent decades by a diversification of the agencies (the collective organisations structuring political activity), the repertoires (the actions commonly used for political expression) and the targets (the political actors that participants seek to influence like the ‘Bring back our girls, #EndSars, Save Nigeria Group, NLC)’. The changing ‘agencies’ here include a shift from organised political parties to relatively diffuse single issue campaign groups and the new political ‘repertoires’ which include, for example, campaigning on social media and the internet through ‘clicktivism’ or e-petitions, occupying politically significant public spaces (as the Occupy movements like the Occupy Nigeria championed by NLC and other civil society organizations have done in the recent past.
However for the purpose of clarity it is important that we note that participation is guided by motivation and intention. In this case we should be clear in our minds why we want to participate. Is it for regime change through the ballot box or is it to influence the policies or direction of government policies to achieve our purpose.
Having briefly discussed emancipatuion and political engagement we shall briefly provide the historical development of the struggle for freedom from precolonial colonial and post colonial period including the contemporary times without much success recorded.
Abridged Historical development of the emancipation struggles for liberty and freedom by the African People.
The seeds for the struggle for emancipation of the people who were living in the area that presently constitute Nigeria was planted in the womb of the capitalist model that was forcefully and cruelly imposed on the people by the Europeans. When the Europeans first attempted to imposed their rule the people resisted them militarily but because of the superior weaponry which was deployed by the Europeans they subdued the African people and imposed their rule. Therefore, the area which was brought under British European control by 1900 was occupied by different kingdoms, chiefdoms and other discrete groups. Having successfully taken over the area Africans who were taken into slavery soon acquired western education and became professionals by 1900 the first Pan African conference was called in London by Henry Sylvester Williams a Trinidad barrister practicing in London. Running through the main theme of the conference according to Langley (1973:27) Include:
- The hope that through scientific research the real picture of Africa before colonialism will be known
- The emancipation of the Africa will hasten the liberation of the American Negro
- the emancipation of Africa does not mean granting self independence, the meaning of emancipation is referring to the opportunities for self –development and education should be granted to Africans generally. This was strictly an appeal it appeal for fairness and they were appealing to the consciousness of mankind,
In addition to these they protested against the oppression of Africans in Africa and the Negroes in the Western hemisphere. They condemned exploitation and called for responsible government to be extended to Africa and the West Indies. The conference called for the independence of three black republics of Liberia, Ethiopia and Haiti to be respected by all nations among other things.
It should however, be noted that it was 1921 Pan- African congress that made resolutions that spurred the nationalist on the continent to begin to demand to be accommodated in the political system through the instrumentality of the nationalist and workers plarforms that were in existence.
They demanded for the recognition of civilize men to be seen as civilized irrespective of their race or colour, local self government, education in self –knowledge in scientific truth and industrial technique, freedom in their own religion and customs, etc.However, it was the fifth Pan-African congress of 1945 in Manchester that made demands and passed resolutions in pursuit of improvements in the political economic and social conditions of the African people.
Thereafter the Manchester conference and in line with global developments this spurred the desire for the formation of the National Congress of British West AFRICA (NCBWA) and later the West African Students Union (WASU) that played critical roles in the struggle for the emancipation of the African people especially the struggle for our independence in 1960.
The experience of domesticating the struggle in Nigeria during the colonial period witnessed mounting pressures on the colonialist by the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) and the organized labour for increase in wages strike like the 1945 COLA Strike. Cohen (1977) observed that whatever semblance of a progressive ideology the early labour movements had in Nigeria was dealt a severe and perhaps final blow by the Nationalist movement led by Herbert Macauley and later Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo who now began to ally with labour with whom the Nationalists had found a common enemy in the colonizers.
This romance of ideas and individuals in the emancipation struggle made the labour leaders popular culminating in the election of comrade Michael Imoudu Labour leader No 1 as Vice President of the NCNC. He was a member of the largest trade union at that time the United Labour Congress (ULC). The ascendancy of Imoudu to the position of Vice helped to cement the relationship between labour movement represented by the Southern Civil Service Union (CSU) formed in 1912 and other unions like the Nigerian Union Teachers and the Railway Workers Union. The active participation of the trade unions in the nationalist struggle facilitated the attainment of independence for Nigeria. From the development what also became very important was the development of Federated trade unions of Nigeria(FTUN) in 1942. However what became a very strong impetus for the nationalist politicians was the events that led to the formation of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria( TUCN) in 1943 (Keshi 2017:131). The alliance between the labour unions and the nationalist leaders and parties like the United National Democratic Party (UNDP) produced some labour leaders as members of parliament namely Chu Nzeribe, Nduka Eze, Haroon Adebola and Samuel Udoh Bassey who won elections into regional and federal legislatures in the first republic.
Analysis of the regional and tribal character of the parties at independence
According to Onuoha (2012: 33), these tendencies of sharp division within the rank and file of the politicians started during the colonial era but began to emerge with the division that happened inside the ranks of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) in 1941, because of the Ikoli-Akinsanya clash. The core issues that informed the disagreements about the leadership of the movement but elicited mutual suspicions, deepened ethno-nationalist inclinations and eroded the platform for articulating a coherent nationalist agenda in colonial Nigeria (Olusanya 1980 in Onuoha 2012). The period of 1948 and 1952 were therefore marked by the controversial awareness of ethno-nationalist identities in Nigeria, leading to the advent of three ethno-regional socio-cultural organisations – Egbe Omo Oduduwa (EOO) in the Yoruba west; Jamiyyar Mutanen Arewa (JMA) in the Hausa-Fulani north; and the Igbo State Union (ISU) in the Igbo east – and the emergence of exclusively regional political parties as bearers of ethno-nationalism and ethno-regional divisions in colonial Nigeria (Ibid: 568). To be sure, political parties that emerged during this period were sharply drawn on the basis of ethnicity and regionalism with Northern People’s Congress (NPC) drawing most of its supporters among the Hausa/Fulani, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) was mostly backed by the Igbos, and Action Group had most of its followers among the Yorubas.
From the forgoing analysis it is arguable to maintain that the emergence of ethnicism or sub-nationalism problematic cannot be delinked from the historical emergence of modern state in Nigeria nay Africa as a colonial creation and how the state was administered by both colonial and postcolonial administrators. Indeed, the literature on colonialism in Africa has rightly implicated the British colonial Centralization of Resources, Divide and Rule and Indirect Rule Policies as the major sources of politically charged ethnic categories in Nigeria (Coleman 1958; Diamond 1988; Ekeh 1975, Nnoli).
After independence just like other capitalist countries the sharp difference between the working class parties and labour unions began to take the form of hostility from the nationalist parties which did not only take regional identities but became tribalistic as ably documented in the preceding statements. The trade unions themselves became so engrossed in the bread and butter struggles that they have temporarily abandoned political struggles. We should recognize the importance of workers participation in political struggles as a veritable tool for promoting justice, equity, accountability and responsible government. This class character of the nationalist parties was seen shortly after independence in their inability to restructure all the instruments of control and coercion like the capitalist state machine-the army, police, the judiciary and other instruments of domination and subjugation.
Attempts to Float a Political Party
The NLC have made attempts to float a political party but one of the challenge it has always faced is the fictitious ban on civil servants or workers not to participate in active politics. This fictitious ban tends to have caged the workers for long from active participation in politics because they will be leaving their traditional role of championing only the work place issues by throwing their hats into the murky waters of politics which was considered an activity that is strictly within the purview of civilians not engaged by the government in order not to compromise their neutrality. It is important to mention that from the colonial days workers have actively participated in politics including serving as Vice President to the NCNC which labour leader Comrade Michael Imoudu occupied. Workers continued to actively engage in the setting up of political parties as noted by Okoye (1981) when in December 191 the Convention Peoples Party of Nigeria was formed made up of ex-zikist, trade unionist, ex-servicemen etc. However the first Labour Party was formed in 1955 known as the Nigerian Labour Party under the auspices of the Trade Union Federation. Other leftist groups such as the Socialist League formed by S.G.Ikoko, while the United Working Peoples Party was formed by Dr Anozie. After Independence the struggle partially shifted focus to the workers condition and wages. Although Comrade Hassan Somunu fought the Shehu Shagaris regime to secure improvement the welfare and salary of workers the struggles were largely the bread and butter struggles until the Babangidas transition programme that saw the establishment of two parties that is the National Republican Convention(NRC) which was a little to the right and the Social Democratic Party(SDP) which consider a little to the left. This arrangement brought t most socialist together as equal founders and joiners culminating in the desire by the flag bearer of the SDP to appoint as Vice President, the then NLC President Comrade Pascal Bafyau. An appointment that never saw the light of the day despite the mass mobilization of the working people, peasant and traders for the SDP Presidential candidate. However it was not until 2002 that the NLC President Comrade Adams Oshiomhole reactivated and registered the Party for Social Democracy. Which transformed into Labour Party (LP) in 2004. With the formation of the Labour Party it was high-jacked by conservative rightist individuals making labour to distance itself from such contraption. Although a governor won election on the platform of labour party like all rightist party the moment the governor fulfilled his political desires he abandoned the party and left it to rot and decay.
Impediments against the political engagement for emancipation that requires to be addressed
- Unity among the labour forces, the numerous socialist groups and civil society groups.
- Whether workers can participate in politics (legal concerns)
- The issues of a transparent electoral system
- The issue of representation (territorial representation or quota representation)
- The need to be active in the political space
- Primordial sentiments
- Good governance
Unity among the labour Unions
More than ever before there is an important need for the entire labour unions in Nigeria to close ranks and take the historical role placed on it by the failures of the Political class that have tried to navigate unsuccessfully the ship of state from collapse. For twenty three years the political class with same identity mission and vision have failed woefully to provide and make life better for majority of Nigerians who have been wallowing in poverty of the intense type, squalor, hopelessness, and despair. The inability to even to pay a minimum wage of thirty thousand naira only exposes the hypocrisy of this ferociously ravaging political class. As Fanon (1972:)) puts it ‘’ each generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it’’. Therefore the political class without any patriotic favour and lacking in organizational direction just like the colonial monsters before it are busy with outright stealing of the common patrimony of the people. They accuse and counter accuse themselves of being clueless, directionless, wasters of the people’s resources by embarking on frivolous projects that are irrelevant to the needs and aspiration of the people. Recently the Peoples Alternative political Movement which I am serving as its FCT acting Chair organized meetings with the workers in all the area councils and the problems that confronts the people at the grassroots that are unreported because it will not benefit the media mafia are legion and were brought to limelight. Therefore, the inability of the NLC which has this historical responsibility to lead the organized labour must be converted to ability by working people in alliance with TUC, PENGASSAN, NANS, ASUU, RIFAN, NURTW, NUJ, ACSN, etc unite to objectively and honestly task themselves with the responsibility of driving the process of emancipation of the people. This cannot be achieved singly by any union but in solidarity with all the unions we shall overcome our oppressors converting them into prisoners to construct manually the roads they have stolen from the people the schools health clinics they have stolen from the people.
Can workers participate in politics?
One could have just given the simple answer YES and move on but it will still not be satisfactory to many workers. Therefore it is healthy to allay the fears of workers by assuring them that apart from supreme court decisions on this matter , the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended in some of its provisions have settled this matter , there is also the theoretical and philosophical analysis by Aristotle in his classic book ‘POLITICS’.
Aristotle begins Politics by asking who is a citizen and what is the nature of a citizen Aristotle considers the attributes that disqualify a person from being a citizen. These are blood, birth, and ancestry, location and capability to sue and be sued. He then went on to consider those attributes that characterize the citizen positively. He concludes that a citizen is:
- The one who takes in and is involved in declaring and judging
- A person who plays a part in the legal and deliberative offices of a polity
- One who rules and is ruled
Therefore according to Aristotle’s view the birth, parentage, place of birth and legal capacity do not demonstrate citizenship unless one is practicing his citizenship through involvement in the affairs of one’s country (Martinez 2013:124 ). Only slaves are onlookers or are practicing what in Nigerian Parlance is called ‘Siddon look’. In line with the theoretical postulations of Aristotle ones citizenship of Nigeria is valueless unless put into practice by actively participating in the affairs of Nigeria as a Nigerian citizens.
This is the reason why Appadorai (2004) posited that democracy demands from the common man a certain level of ability and character: rational conduct and active participation in the government. In Nigeria, political activities and transition programmes have been marked with turbulence, uncertainties and violence. Right from the First Republic, the Nigerian politics is characterized by greed, love of power, violence, assassination, thuggery and election rigging. Violence has become synonymous with Nigeria’s political culture such that virtually all elections held so far in the country are violent-ridden (Ojo, 2014). The perpetuation of violence tends to scare citizens from participation leaving the stage for the street urchins thugs dubious godfathers and violent perpetrators of election rigging. Participation refers to the different ways in which the public express opinions and ideally exert influence on political, economic, management and other social decisions. For a well-informed participation to occur, a radical transparency though not sufficient, is necessary. It is argued that people most affected by a decision should have the most say while those less affected should have less say. Participation has its objectives from the administrative perspective, to motivate the people and public support building activities. For the citizens, it facilitates useful information exchange regarding local conditions. It enables individuals and groups to influence agency decision in a representative manner etc. Political participation is that activity that has the intent or effect of influencing government action. It is that aspect of democracy that deals with the political environment. Davies (1963) cited in Unanka (2004:20), defined political participation as “taking part in making the basic decision as to what are the common goals of one’s society and as to the best ways to move towards these goals”. Political participation expresses actions, reactions, interactions and role expectation as one finds oneself as an integral member of a society. It is a known fact that without significant citizen involvement, the democratic process falls short of its goals. According to Ogunna (2003:24), political participation can be active, partial or passive. Democracy, the actualized popular power through political structures that are responsive and active.
Secondly. Nigerians, have continued to criticize the 1999 constitution as amended which was christened the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. The constitution was meant to regulate the affairs of all Nigerians going forward. Many scholars have continued to attack the ‘Nigerianness’ of the Constitution and if it is capable of meeting the yearnings and aspiration of all Nigerians. Despite the various vociferous attacks and critics on the 1999 Constitution, it has continued to serve the Nigerian people though it keeps going in and out of the theatre of constitutional amendments. Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution provides for in section (40) that ‘’ every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interest ‘’ in spite of the constitutional provision there are still civil servants and some officials of government who still issue out directives banning civil servants from partaking in political activities contrary to the constitutional provision which is the ground norm for governance in Nigeria and Supreme court judgment on the matter. We must however, be mindful of the trade union act section 15 which prohibits workers from using workers fund for partisan politics, this act was virtually repealed by the supreme court judgment on INEC vs Musa which says that workers have a right to under the constitution to vote and be voted and to belong to political parties of their choice this is succinctly captured in judgments of the supreme court attached to this paper ( see appendix 1) Although the judgment made it clear ‘’that it may well be that the need to ensure objectivity of officers entrusted with the implementation of administration and to foster a public confidence in and a healthy public perception of the public service are factors that may influence and justify some sort of restrictions but as earlier stated that was not an issue in the appeal’’. Therefore they concluded that here is nothing reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defence , public safety, public order , public morality or public health prohibiting a member of the public service or civil service of the federation , a state or local government or area council from eligibility to be registered as a member of a political party . They averred that the restriction is a valid derogation from section 40 by virtue of section 45(1) of the constitution was erroneous.
Therefore from the constitutional provisions, theoretical postulations and judgment of the supreme court any illiterate administrator issuing directives that workers cannot be members of a political party such directives should not be obeyed. .
The desire for a transparent electoral system
Election as we have hinted is a major aspect of democracy. Elections, broadly conceived, refer to the process of elite selection by the mass of the population in any given political system. Although controversy rages among political thinkers about the nature of representation, there is one point of universal agreement; the representation process is intrinsically linked to elections and voting. Political representation is implicit in the very idea of constitutional government and elections are essential to the functioning of a truly representative government. Representatives, acting on behalf of the electorate make the legislative and executive decisions that voter in the aggregate could not possibly make for themselves, considering the sheer numbers of people involved (Anifowose, 2003). The link between elections and democracy should be clear from the above “for thus far, no superior method has been evolved for selecting the leadership of a democratically ruled society” (Ojo 2007:6). As important as elections are in a democracy, it is important to note that they do not always lead to representation. This is to the extent that the incidence of fraud may characterize certain elections such that even when the people come out to vote, their votes do not count.
During elections in Nigeria, there were reported cases of underage voting, distribution of money at polling centers, manipulation of voters’ register, diversion of electoral materials, ballot box snatching, unlawful possession of firearms and other electoral offences. This political scenario engendered lukewarm political attitude and participation among some citizens. and other fraudulent electoral practices frustrates the democratic aspirations of citizens who have voted or would have been voted into office someone else other than the eventual winner.
The recent signing into law of the 2022 Electoral Act will have the prospects of conferring election integrity by ensuring that only genuinely elected officials and not those rigged into office will be in those offices. However this also calls for vigilance on the part of the Trade Unions, civil society groups, election observers, political parties and all citizens. This is because our elections have been replete with rigging ballot box snatching, collation manipulations, killings, maiming of electoral and opposition candidates and their agents. Inflation of votes , vote buying etc. There is need to popularize the Ananbra woman who rejected money openly to vote her choice freely and eventually got a one million reward from Governor Willy Obiano who rewarded her. Such acts of courage, honesty and bravery should be encouraged.
The Nexus between Political Parties and Representation
Democracy is about participation and representation. Participation is the extent to which individual members of society take part or get involved in the activities in their societies. Representation on the other hand, refers to the process by which people get chosen to act in the interest of the community or sectors thereof. In modern day where the dominant form of democracy is indirect or representative democracy, political parties are the principal mechanism for ensuring citizen participation and representation in public policy (Agbaje 2005), and in fact through which individuals share the democratic values. Thus, a political party is an organized group of individuals who share similar political beliefs, opinions, principles, aspirations and interest with the sole aim of capturing political power and exercising it through the formation of government. In democracies, a political party is “a more or less permanent institution with the goal of aggregating interests, presenting candidates for elections with the purpose of controlling governments and representing such interests in government. However, the way and manner the representatives are elected in contemporary times is through constituencies which could be done either through pass the post system proportional representation or even quota representation where seats are reserved like in Uganda even though not a good example but it practice quota representation which the paper strongly subscribe to as a means of promoting inclusiveness. As a country, we have come to the crossroads of democracy and have to advocate for a system that is cost effective and will enable the ordinary people because they are citizens an opportunity for their voices to be heard on the table through their representatives who should be assigned a quota. For example it is a fact 49.5% of the 200 million Nigerian population are Women with less than 10 % in representation. The entire political class is put at 11.9% of the total population and they have dispossessed the 88.1% of the population of any form of representation and they occupy the political space 100%. Therefore what this means is a minority rule over the majority of the people, this tiny minority represent a class and does the bidding of a tiny class. In order to liberalize the political space we may need to learn lessons from countries that were backward like us but having fine -tuned and domesticated the western model it has given voice to their people. The communist party of China with 90 million authentic party members only reserved 30% of seats in their annual national two sessions while the remaining 70% is distributed to the different segment of Chinese society. The Ugandan Parliament, although not a good example, also reserve seats for the armed forces, youths, women, disabled, Trade Union as follows 353 elected members, 146 seats (women), 10 seats (army). 5 seats (youth), 5 seats (disabilities) 5 seats (workers), 5 seats (elderly). In the case of Uganda it is a situation of the minority dominating the majority but are conscious of the desire to hear the voices of the majority through this tokenism of seats reserved for other segment of the society. Therefore one issue that must be addressed either as a socialist or liberal democracy is the issue of representation. Therefore the much talked about restructuring of the structure of the state must also address those political lop-sidedness that promote the oppression and dehumization of the people.
Governance
The whole importance attached to political emancipation is good governance. Therefore, it is the absence of good governance that has stimulated the NLC to say enough is enough. Governance has some measurement attributes that are expected to feature in a government system known as good governance namely; accountability, transparency, rule of law, participation, responsiveness, consensus oriented, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency (Zoaka, 2021). Most if not all of these very clear measurable variables are completely absent in our governance system at the Federal, State and Local government levels. This is why it is impossible for government not to provide any meaningful development because the governance system have no clear cut key performance indicators for their programs neither do they use any of the scientific tools in project management such as project evaluation review techniques (PERT) or the Critical Path Method (CPM) it explains why projects are poorly conceived and poorly executed or even abandoned. Recently the government imported adulterated fuel into the country and accepted that it did but NNPC wanted N201 billion to clean the same adulterated oil. This people actually believe that Nigerians cannot think any longer and they are the only thinkers consequently all sorts of useless ideas can be generated and sold to the Nigerian public. We should not forget that ASUU is currently on Strike largely over low wages for which a new condition of service have been negotiated and agreed upon but the government is not willing to sign because they said the propose salary review was too outrageous and it cannot pay. But prefer to waste over 201 billion naira on correcting an error deliberately made by an official who is still in his office pretending that nothing has happened. We shouldn’t also forget that minimum wage agreed upon some years back is not fully implemented in the 36 States. Therefore, like in the old where labour had to during the period preceding the election of 1979 witnessed some hike in the cost of living as a result of government’s shabby agricultural, economic and industrial policies. The disenchantment which it created among the Nigerian workers and Nigerians generally led the NLC to issue a twenty one days ultimatum to the Federal Government to react to their demands which in particular included the restoration of car loans, review of rent and transport allowances and fixing of a national minimum wage (Otobo, 1981:70) Organized labour was very concerned that labour was not getting a fair share of the nation’s oil prosperity. This came on the heels of the flamboyant life style and the profligacy of the politicians who turned into importers of essential commodities overnight. Indeed, import licenses were granted only to party affiliates and were used as avenues for meting electioneering costs or debts and the accumulation of wealth against the subsequent elections. This reaction of the Nigerian Labour Congress could be interpreted as the first explicit demonstration of independence of the newly formed labour congress from the whims and caprices of the Federal Military Government. Or more still, the rejection of the old order and the ascendancy of the middle echelons of the bureaucrats who comprised the bulk of the union membership as suggested in the issues the union members picked upon conveniently, reflecting their major concerns and interests. Similarly, it would also “seem to have been an attempt to expose the irrationality behind the government’s indifference to the workers’ plight while it reduced “politics” to the award of contracts, licences and the handing out of political patronage, some of which involved staggering sums of money.”(Otobo, 1981:70) Indeed, the vacuum created by the absence of a strong opposition during this military dispensation virtually converted labour into opposition. However this is also an area where we need to reflect and diagnose opposition politics whether it is a sufficient system and whether we can practice what is called democratic cooperation instead of opposition as practice by the CPC in China. What we have been witnessing in Nigeria right from the inception of ‘democracy ‘is the inability of the operators to practice good governance. Therefore the Nigerian people are looking out for those that will emancipate them from the hands of the democratic dictatorships we have been having since 1999.
THE NEED TO BE ACTIVE IN THE POLITICAL SPACE
Having settled the big matter on representation there is an important need to engage politically either as a single entity or in alliance with other political parties or with all leftist groups in the country or by consistently making demands as already proposed in the charter of demands. The NLC in its charter of demands under objectives of workers political conference ITEM 4 muted the idea of siddon look if it becomes impossible to strategize with the Labour Party or find another way. In my opinion finding another way by aligning with a people oriented Political Party that has socialist ideology could be a solution. We should not forget that the labour movement in Nigeria emerged in opposition to the excesses that characterized Nigerian politics from independence until the contemporary times. These include standing against anti-people policies, high handedness of the government especially the military, corruption and insensitivity of the political elite, nepotism, etc. Therefore labour should not abandon the people at this critical crossroads because clearly the two major political parties have governed the country from 1999 to date have failed and a large segment of the political class are aware and acknowledge this failure while a few are still shamelessly believing they can pull the ship of state out of imminent collapse that stares us all in the face. Although it is clear that this could lead to a backlash through panic measures that could be instituted by a dying party and government.
What is to be done?
Having x-rayed the different dimension of the crises of governance and party politics in Nigeria by identifying the major issues that require the intervention of labour in order to save the ship of state that has derailed and requires patriots to save it from total collapse it is paramount to make the following suggestions.
Option 1 Recover Labour Party
The NLC should continue to make attempts to salvage the labour party from the present usurpers in order to make it easier for workers ownership and buy in because it has won two elections in the past and workers can easily identify with it. But this should be done within shortest possible time frame, before the April deadline when party primaries would have kicked off based on Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) time table for 2023 elections that have just been released. As contained in the Concept note broad consultations should not last more than two weeks on this item. The NLC political Committee should be saddled wirh this responsibility and to report to a broad base workers political conference.
Option 2 Go Alone Option with All the Downtrodden Masses.
The NLC should engage other civil society groups, it affiliates, faith based organizations, traditional and community based groups, civil society, all socialist groups and political parties registered or deregistered that are socialist and radical in orientation should be invited for a political summit where this proposal would be sold. In line with this a broad based committee to promote the emancipation of the working people should be put in place, taking into cognisance quota representation of all groups and segment of the Nigerian society. A time frame of three weeks should be given to the committee and NLC NEC should be saddle with setting up this group.
This option looks attractive but however it appears to be late considering the time table already published by INEC and the newly signed electoral act which stipulates a number of activities to be concluded in good enough time.
Therefore within this option we can have a variety that should partner with an existing party. However, discussions should be opened with either the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) or the Social democratic party (SDP).But the labour must be mindful of the internal squabbles that is currently affecting the parties.
Option 3: Negotiate with the one of the main parties.
This option is basically to seek understanding with one of the parties in order to secure some better condition for Nigerian workers. In line with this there might be need to subject the charter of demands of Nigerian workers to a serious debate in the unions in order to broaden the charter to accommodate all categories of Nigerian workers and to demand basic things that can uplift the standard of living of the people and also to promote the good life. The charter must insist on certain benchmarks for education, healthcare, railways development, roads, support to farmers , scaling down of security to the neighbourhood level etc.
Option 4 Political Engagements
In this option the paper that envisage labour should set up a team to organize debate for contestants , political parties to explain how they intend to achieve their vision for Nigeria, to constantly arrange for government officials to explain the targets set and achieved in their ministries departments and agencies of government, etc.in this regard it can partner with civil society groups who have been championing accountability and good governance to transform Nigeria within the current framework.
ACTIONS REQUIRED
If any of the suggestions above is accepted there will be an important need to draw up a broad base strategy and implementation committee to brainstorm on the best and most brilliant way to go about implementing the decisions reached at the end of this conference.
Summary and Conclusion
In this paper we have attempted to examine the role of labour in the emancipation of Nigeria in the past and currently what it has been doing to promote and protect the workers including its struggle for the implementation of the minimum wage. The paper also examined some of the challenges mitigating against workers participation in the political process and the desire to close ranks within the labour movement to achieve the greater goals of freedom and justice for the common people. It also showed how this responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the NLC as the umbrella body for all working people to lead the process and for all unions to bury their ego for this patriotic duty of saving Nigeria.
The country is currently at a cross road with the abysmal failure of the two leading political parties. Therefore there is a political vacuum (space) that has been created by the failure of the political class. This calls on labour to be ready to serve as the vanguard of the people so as the galvanize the strength and energies of the people towards emancipating all. The struggle will not be an easy one as the class that is sending itself by itself into oblivion has done so successfully by looting and converting itself into a lootocracy instead of using the peoples wealth to promote good governance. They will fight dirty but the people are not with them and even those living at the frontiers of capitalism and eating the crumbs are already frustrated because the crumbs are no longer falling from the tables of the political exploiters. They will therefore willingly align with the working and toiling masses.
Therefore in conclusion the paper is calling on all revolutionary groups the working people to close ranks under the leadership of NLC which should serve as the vanguard leadership for the 2023 movement and lead all into a more prosperous society that should promote equity, justice and fair play for all.
Thank you.
References
AKE, C (1979) Social Science as Imperialism: A theory of political development Ibadan: Ibadan University Press
Anifowose, R. (2003) ‟Theoretical perspectives on Elections” in R. Anifowose, and T. Babawale (eds.) 2003 General Elections and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria, Lagos: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 20 – 45. Daily Trust Newspapers, July 18, 2006, 16
Appadorai, A (2004). The Substance of Politics (Fourth Impression). India, Oxford University Press.
Cohen, R (1977) Micheal Imoudu and the Nigerian Working Class 18 (4) doi1177/030639687701800402.
CFRN( 1999) 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria . Lagos: Government Printers.
Coleman, J. (1958) Nigeria: background to nationalism. Los Angeles: University of California Press;
Diamond, L. (1988) Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria. New York: Syracuse University Press;
Dersso, S.A. (2008).Post-Colonial Nation-Building and Ethnic Diversity in Africa. In: Wachira, G.M. editor. Ethnicity, Human Rights and Constitutionalism in Africa. Nairobi: The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists;
Egwu, S. (2004) Ethnicity and citizenship in Urban Nigeria: the Jos Case, 1960–2000, Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Eisenstadt, S.N. (1959) Primitive political systems: a preliminary comparative analysis. Am Anthropol. ; 61(2): 200–20.
Ekeh, P. Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement. Comp Stud Soc Hi
Fanon, F (1963) the wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Weidenfeld
Keshi, C (2017) The Politics of the Last Resort: A Foundational Account on Conflicts and Rent Seeking in Nigeria. Abuja: Samepage learning.
Langley.A.I (1973) Pan-Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa 1900-1945: A Study in Ideology London: Clarendon Press.
Martinez, J.(2013) Slavery and citizenship in Aristotle’s Politics Espana: Universidad de Oviedo Nnoli
Oates, 2006; Della P (17) (PDF) Nexus politics : conceptualizing everyday political engagement. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346601861_Nexus_politics_conceptualizing_everyday_political_engagement [accessed Feb 21 2022]
Okoye M(1981) Storms on the Niger. Great Britain: Billing and Sons Limited.
Norris, Pippa. (2002) Democratic phoenix: Reinventing political axctivism. Cambridge University Press.
Norris Pippa. (2007) “Political Activism: New Challenges, New Opportunities”. In: Charles Boix and Susan Stokes (eds) The Oxford Handbook Of Comparative Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.650
(17) (PDF) Nexus politics : conceptualizing everyday political engagement. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346601861_Nexus_politics_conceptualizing_everyday_political_engagement [accessed Feb 21 2022].
Onuoha, G. Contemporary Igbo Nationalism and the Crisis of Self-Determination in Nigeria. Afr Stud. 2012; 71(1): 29–51.
Flinders, M. and Wood, M. (2018) Nexus politics : conceptualizing everyday political engagement. Democratic Theory, 5 (2). pp. 56-81. ISSN 2332-8894 https://doi.org/10.3167/dt.2018.05020 (17) (PDF) Nexus politics : conceptualizing everyday political engagement. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346601861_Nexus_politics_conceptualizing_everyday_political_engagement [accessed Feb 21 2022].
Otobo, D., (1981) “The Nigerian General Strike of 1981” Review of African Political Economy, No. (Oct. – Dec.) pp. 65-81.
Ogunna, A. E. C. (2003) Dynamics of Military and Politics in Nigeria, Owerri: Whyte Publishers
Olutola, B. (2022) Right to Political Participation under the 1999 Constitution: A Fundamental or Inconsequential Omission? Unizik journal of public and private law vol. 11.
Zoaka, Y.A (2021) Security Challenges and Good Governance: Insurgency And The Search For Sustainable Peace in The North East in the Era of Pandemic being a paper presented at NPSA N/East Zone Biannual Conference at Yobe State University on 30th March, 2021.
