2023: Labour Seeks Improved Political Leadership

•Jega urges alliance of patriots to rescue Nigeria

Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The organised labour has commenced a process of political engagement which it expects would help to produce better leadership for Nigeria in the 2023 general elections.

Speaking at the 2022 Workers’ Political Conference organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), its President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba said the purpose of the conference with the theme: “Commitment to National Emancipation and Development through Effective Engagement by Nigerian Workers,” was to reconstruct the critical bridge of issue-based politics that accommodates the interests of Nigerian workers and people.

“Our determination is that in the run up to the 2023 elections, we must not to allow professional politicians to evade critical questions of national development,” he said.

Wabba said labour’s charter of demands prioritise equity, fairness and social justice. He said the organised labour was asking for free and quality education up to tertiary levels for every Nigerian child.

“Our charter of demands insist that every Nigerian should access free and quality healthcare from cradle to grave; our charter of demands make the argument for the kind of restructuring that brings sustainable development to real Nigerians currently struggling with the crumbs.

“Also, our charter of demands posit that politicians should no longer be allowed to send their kids to schools abroad or treat their sicknesses in foreign hospitals while the children of the poor are trapped in endless strike actions and poor medical facilities which their failed leadership has imposed on all of us,” he said.

Wabba explained that the charter of demands was a pact of emancipation for Nigerian workers and people, adding that it was duty of the NLC’s leadership to put it at the front burner of 2023 politics.

“We can make this happen by mobilising every worker in Nigeria to get their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) ready. The next step is to engage politically. We must be ready to engage political parties especially Workers Political Party and progressive political interests across the country to ensure that a significant number of candidates who would vie for elective positions in 2023 subscribe to the provisions of our charter,” he said.

The NLC’s charter of demands were summarised under the following titles: Physical security, social protection and good governance, management of Nigeria’s resources, industrialisation, education, healthcare, living wages and prioritisation of workers’ welfare.

Under the social protection and good governance, the congress said workers were demanding that Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution on socio-economic rights of Nigerians be made justiciable. These, he said included provision of jobs for the Nigerian youths, payment of unemployment benefits to the unemployed Nigerians and improving the salaries and welfare package for members of the Police and other armed forces.

On education, the NLC said Nigerian workers would no longer tolerate leaders who would undermine the education sector by sending their children to study abroad.

In his contribution, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Atahiru Jega bemoaned what he described as the sorry state of affairs in the country. He said the nation urgently needed to be rescued before things worsen.

According to Jega, Nigerian workers and their organisations, trade unions and working-class movements, “must join hands and work together with credible patriots in professional associations, civil society organisations and students and women groups, bring about remarkable improvement in our politics and governance as we inch towards the 2023 general elections.

“Therefore, I humbly suggest that, now, preparatory to the 2023 general elections, is the time to effectively mobilise, consciencetise and involve Nigerian workers in broader political engagements towards using the electoral process to improve the leadership recruitment processes, elect good and popular representatives in governance, and by so doing, catalyse good democratic governance, which would certainly be in the overall, long-term interest of the Nigerian working people,” he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman of NLC Political Commission, Najeem Yasin urged workers to used their numerical strength to put in political office, persons who would respect the promise made with Nigerians.

While sharing the experience of trade Union organisation in South Africa, the President of COSATU, Sister Losi Zingiswa said labour had worked in alliance with the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) to promote good working conditions for workers in the country.