The Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, Anambra Council, has re-elected Mr. Ifeanyi Okechukwu as its Chairman for a second tenure. Newsmen report that Okechukwu was returned unopposed at the state TUC Triennial Delegates Conference in Awka on Monday.
The Assistant Secretary-General of the Union, Mr. Anthony Ebaho, who supervised the electoral process, commended the members for their mature and peaceful conduct.
Ebaho said the unanimous decision by the delegates to return the executive was an indication of quality leadership and the good harmonious relationship existing between the executive council and members.
In his acceptance speech, Okechukwu assured members that his executive would continue to employ dialogue and non-confrontational approach with the government on issues of members’ welfare.
Okechukwu said he ensured a cordial relationship between the state government, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), security agencies and business organizations in the state in his first three years.
“This transformed the TUC to a major stakeholder in the affairs of the state.”
Okechukwu, who doubles as the Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Anambra chapter, commended Gov. Willie Obiano for the prompt payment of pensions and salaries to workers.
He, however, urged the Federal Government to urgently address security challenges currently ravaging some parts of the country.
NAN reports that other officers re-elected included Chris Ogbonna (Vice Chairman), David Nwaogorugor (Secretary), Uzoh Odilichukwu (Treasurer), and Eweh Onyedika (Financial Secretary).
Others are Uche Mba (Public Relations Officer), Ben Ebi-Alex (Assistant Secretary), Mrs. Nneka Nwankwo (Chairperson, Women), and Obiakor Ogochukwu (Ex-Officio member).
The National Executive Council (NEC) of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) met in Lagos recently on the state of the nation and came out with some recommendations on how to move the nation forward.
In particular, the TUC National Executive Committee (NEC) called for the revival of Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and the National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) to help boost agricultural production in the county. Coming at a time when the government is diversifying the economy away from the oil sector to agriculture and urging the youths to embrace agribusiness, the TUC’s call is appropriate and timely.
It observed that government parastatals like Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) whose activities could boost government’s economic diversification programmes, are not given adequate financial subventions as at when due.
The NEC- in session therefore, strongly advised the federal government to urgently revive BOA and NERFUND through adequate funding to enable them extend appropriate finance for economic programmes particularly to farmers in the rural areas and small scale businesses.
It is also important for government to reintroduce Export Expansion Grant (EEG) which was stopped some years back so as to encourage exporters of processed agro-allied products to increase their production for export and bring more inflow of foreign exchange into the country.
However, it is sad that the same government which is clamoring for the diversification of the economy is at the same time paying lip service to those programmes and organisations that could significantly help to ensure accelerated diversification of the economy. At the same time NERFUND which was established to fund small scale industries especially those in the agribusinesses seemed to have been left behind in the current efforts to wake up agriculture in the country.
There is no doubt that NERFUND has not done well in the last decade or so because of poor budgetary allocation to it for disbursement to its clients. At the same time, some of its staff, particularly those at the top echelon of the organisation might have entrenched themselves in corruption over the years. The answer to such an organisation where the leadership is corrupt is not to abandon the organisation as the government has done but to make the corrupt officials account for their misdeeds while the organisation should be reorganized for better performance.
The country is focusing on agriculture to diversify the economy away from oil which took ascendancy over agriculture since the early 1970’s. BOA understands the culture of farmers and is well placed to provide funds for the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products by small, medium and large scale agribusinesses.
The government should therefore fund BOA well so that it can in turn fund agriculture and agribusinesses in the efforts to revitalize agricultural production in the country at this point in time. With the renewed interest in agribusiness across the country a virile agricultural bank is needed to service the needs of entrepreneurs in agribusiness.
The high interest rates charged by commercial banks make them unsuitable as sources of funds for those in agribusiness. Therefore, the government should also review upward the capitalization of BOA from its present N1 trillion to at least N1.5 trillion so that it can better serve its clients and be able to give more funding to agribusinesses.
President, Textile Union, John Adaji (left); General Secretary, Issa Aremu and others leading a peaceful march to commemorate the Workers’ Day despite protest in Eagles Square, Abuja… yesterday. PHOTO: LUCY LADIDI ELUKPO
A rally planned for the Eagle Square in Abuja to mark this year’s May Day was disrupted yesterday as thousands of unionists demanded that President Muhammadu Buhari “must address the suffering workers.”
As in Nigeria, millions of protesters across the world hit the streets to mark the day. The protests became violent in some parts of Nigeria, France, Turkey, United States of America (USA), Spain and Russia, among others. In Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, hoodlums violently disrupted a rally organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) forcing participants to flee.
Known as May Day, the first day of every fifth month is set aside either to celebrate workers’ rights or as a day of protests and riots. It traces its modern roots back to a world-changing explosion in Chicago. It was originally an ancient pagan holiday celebrating the start of summer. Different groups overtime adapted the celebration to suit their specific cultures and beliefs.
Nigerian workers have been pressing for as much 300 per cent increase in minimum wage — from the current N18, 000 (less than $50) — to mitigate the impact of official pump price of petrol which jumped from N86 per litre to N145.
The drama in Abuja started, when the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, failed to appear in person to address the workers, but said he would only deliver President Buhari’s message to them.
The workers, who claimed to have been deceived on many occasions by Ngige, approached the podium and disallowed further proceedings, warning that they would only listen to the president they voted for in 2015, especially as he had promised to help cushion the sufferings of millions of Nigerian workers.
Police disrupting a workers’ protest at Eagles Square, Abuja ...yesterday.
PHOTO: LUCY LADIDI ELUKPO
The scenario, took an uncontrollable twist when former Labour leader Adams Oshiomhole, who is also the immediate past governor of the South-South state of Edo, also mounted the podium to test his popularity thinking it was the solution to calm the aggrieved and disenchanted workers. He was, however, met with stiffer opposition as the chanting crowd assured him of a showdown.
The unfortunate event, threw the dignitaries, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and the representative of the Senate President, into confusion. They were later shielded and rescued out of the venue by security men.
The workers, who defied police water tanks, also took over the podium and seized the microphones chanting ‘Ole …Ole’ (thief..thief) Some aggrieved workers later told The Guardian that the Eagle Square faceoff was a better opportunity to confront a Federal Government that has continued to deceive the people since its inauguration in 2015.
A senior civil servant, Mr. Isaac Omololu, said the large crowd that greeted this year’s May Day celebration at the Eagle Square depicted the apathy Nigerian workers had for the present government.
“Do not be deceived; do not think that we are here to praise government. All the people you see here have ears to hear one thing and that is the possibility of increasing the minimum wage, any other thing short of that is useless.”
“Our own mumu (foolishness) don too much. See how this people dey use us,” Mrs. Jane Yunus, another civil servant told our source. “The children of these government officials are abroad studying, yet we can’t pay school fees for our children in Nigeria. We are saying no to their sins”
The President of a faction of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said government must be held responsible for the suffering of Nigeria’s under-paid workers, even as inflation bites harder.
Wabba told the media that what happened at the event was nothing but a show of pure anger at what the workers are passing through in the last two years.
In her good will message to Nigerian workers, the Head of Service, Winifred Oyo-Ita enjoined them to sustain a focused support for the current government, as there are efforts to pay outstanding salaries soon.
The scenario in Nigeria also played out in other parts of the world as protesters took to the streets. Turkish government arrested hundreds as anti-government rallies swept through cities. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that Turkish police yesterday fired tear gas and plastic bullets at protesters seeking to march to Istanbul’s Taksim Square to celebrate May Day, in defiance of an official ban.
Istanbul police authorities said they arrested 165 people in connection with the protests, including 139 people for “unauthorised marches.” Police tried to stop around 200 protesters in the Gayrettepe district on the European side of Istanbul who wanted to walk to the famous Taksim Square in spite of the ban by city authorities, an AFP journalist said.
In France, the violence took a more dangerous dimension as French CRS anti-riot police officers were engulfed in flames as they faced protesters during a march for the annual May Day workers’ rally in Paris. The protesters had pushed a burning trolley towards them.
Also in Madrid, Spain, AFP yesterday reported thousands of people venting their anger at rampant corruption, as Spain’s ruling Popular Party (PP) finds itself embroiled in a new scandal.
The Moscow capital city of Russia also had its own share of the May Day violence yesterday, according to the AFP, as almost a million and a half people turned out in central Moscow the annual parade — many more than in past years — Russian police said.
“Nearly 1.5 million people marched on May 1,” AFP cited the Moscow police as saying in a statement quoted by Interfax news agency.
Source
Guardian
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