According to the communiqué released at the end of the meeting NLC said “The NEC-in-Session similarly observed that the power sector reform has so far failed to yield the desired improvement in power generation and distribution. Instead the country is witnessing more darkness and an increased shutting down of industries. Manufacturers determined to keep afloat are spending huge sums of money (estimated at over N300 billion annually) on alternative power supply. This cost elements are normally passed on to consumers, and therefore making our manufactured products less competitive, price wise, with imported goods. Besides this, the NEC further noted that poor power supply leads to non-optimal operation by industries and by extension, low employment for workers.”
Read the full text of the communiqué below:
Communiqué issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held at the Paschal Bafyau Labour House on August 6, 2015
Preamble
The Nigeria Labour Congress held its inaugural National Executive Council (NEC) meeting following the conclusion of the 11th Delegates Conference of Congress with the election of Comrade Ayuba Wabba as President and fifteen other national officers – three Deputy Presidents, four Vice Presidents, National Treasurer, Trustee, Financial Secretary, three National Auditors and two Ex-officio members – who constitute the National Administrative Council (NAC) of Congress.
The NEC which is made up of the NAC, Presidents, General Secretaries and Treasurers of affiliate industrial unions and chairpersons and secretaries of State Councils of Congress, was attended by members of NAC, ...industrial unions, and all 36 state councils of Congress and Abuja.
The NEC-in-Session took report from the National Secretariat of Congress on developments within the labour movement and the polity since the last 11th Delegates’ Conference. It also took reports from State Councils of Congress on developments in the states since the states delegates’ conferences which held across the country on April 23rd 2015.
After extensive deliberations on these and other critical national issues concerning workers on its agenda, as well as a review of the state of the nation, NEC resolved as follows:
On the Economy
The NEC-in-Session noted with dismay that the state of the nation’s economy continued to be in precarious condition as a result of the mismanagement and fritting away of trillions of naira of our commonwealth by those entrusted with managing our economy particularly in the last five or so year at all levels of governance. The mind-boggling reports of theft of billions of dollars of national revenue which Nigerians are being inundated with since the change of government at the federal level, clearly shows that if this massive theft and mismanagement had not gone on unabated over the years, we would have been able to better cope with the fall in the price of crude oil at the international market.
The NEC-in-Session also noted that the purchasing power of Nigerian workers in particular, and the people in general, have been seriously undermined by the massive devaluation of the naira, which has also triggered uncontrollable inflation in our economy.
The NEC-in-Session similarly observed that the power sector reform has so far failed to yield the desired improvement in power generation and distribution. Instead the country is witnessing more darkness and an increased shutting down of industries. Manufacturers determined to keep afloat are spending huge sums of money (estimated at over N300 billion annually) on alternative power supply. This cost elements are normally passed on to consumers, and therefore making our manufactured products less competitive, price wise, with imported goods. Besides this, the NEC further noted that poor power supply leads to non-optimal operation by industries and by extension, low employment for workers.
The NEC-in-Session expressed alarm at the escalating rate of unemployment in the country. NEC views this as a ticking time bomb which needs immediate attention of all tiers of government to address. The NEC as a result frowns at the disingenuous approach of the National Bureau of Statistics and other agencies of government to manipulate unemployment figures. This fraudulent approach is not helpful to the government which needs as accurate a figure as possible to be able to properly plan on ways of resolving the messy unemployment situation in the country.
On the economy, the NEC-in-Session therefore resolves:
- The Nigeria Labour Congress supports the efforts of the federal government to do a comprehensive audit of how our earnings have been managed, in the first instance, in the last five or so years. This review, NEC hopes, will get to the root of billions of dollars that operators of government at the federal level have stolen from Nigerian people, which should be recovered and put back into the common pool. NEC further resolved to support the prompt prosecution of all those who participated in the massive looting spree of our national treasury, to serve as a lesson that abuse of public trust comes with corresponding penalties.
- On the power sector, NEC calls on the federal government to review the privatisation recently carried out in the sector. The Congress believe that the focus of the reform in government divesting from critical aspects of the power architecture to a private sector that lacks creativity and which is so dependent on the state for its existence, is a recipe for continuing national darkness and hardship for the manufacturing segment of our economy.
NEC-in-Session further resolved that the Congress should produce a comprehensive review position on the power sector and engage the new government on it, with a view to improving the power generation and supply in the country. In the short run, NEC called on the federal government to prevail on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) not to renege on its responsibility to protect consumers from imposition of outrageous and unjustifiable bills on them by the new managers, the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) that have so far failed to add any value to companies they inherited.
- On the unemployment situation in the country, NEC-in-Session resolved that the Congress should go back to the “Report of the National Action Plan on Employment Creation: 2009-2020,” which came out of the 2009 National Employment Summit, which the federal government convened after NLC canvassing for it to hold. That summit was held with technical support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the active participation of organised labour as well as the private sector led by National Employers Consultative Association (NECA) and the federal government. The Summit had projected that between 4-5 million jobs could be created annually up to 2020.
The NEC-in-Session further resolved that the Congress should factor in the campaign promise of the ruling APC government and produce a comprehensive blueprint on job creation which the NLC would use to campaign for job creation within all sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Resolutions on key issues affecting workers:
- Non-payment of Salaries: The NEC-in-Session commended the federal government for releasing funds to the states which were intended to assist states in meeting their overdue obligations, especially the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, some of which it noted were in arrears of between two to seven months. Pensions and gratuities arrears in many cases are owed for up to 12 or more months.
The NEC noted that the failure of these states to pay salaries and pensions is not due only to the paucity of funds but mismanagement and wrong prioritisation. It therefore further commended the recommendation by the Presidency that salaries should be put in first line charge in state budgetary allocations. It resolved to liaise with the respective states Houses of Assembly to ensure that salaries and pensions of workers are henceforth put on first line charge of state budgets.
The NEC of Congress further resolved that the leadership should mobilise industrial union presidents and general secretaries to all the states owing three or more months in arrears of workers’ salaries, to ensure that the indebted states are compelled to pay workers the legitimate earnings.
Regarding the reported action of some banks withholding the bailout fund, NEC mandated the leadership of Congress to identify these banks and take whatever action it deems necessary to stop these banks from holding Nigerian workers to ransom.
- New National Minimum Wage: The NEC-in-Session, after reviewing the deteriorating purchasing power of Nigerian workers cause by the massive devaluation of the naira, as well as the fact that the Minimum Wage Act of 2011 has reached its statutory five year mark for review, mandated the national leadership to draw up a new proposal for the upward review of the current N18, 000 national minimum wage. This proposal shall upon completion, be tabled before the federal government, which shall empanel, as is the normal practice, a tripartite committee, comprising government, employers and organised labour to negotiate a new national minimum wage. NEC hopes that the negotiations will be completed in time for the new minimum wage to be reflected in the 2016 national and state budgets.
- National Day of Action Against Corruption and for Good Governance: NEC-in-Session reviewed the endemic scale of corruption in our body polity and the negative consequences of this on every segment of our society. NEC also reviewed the high cost of governance at all levels of government, and the need to take urgent and concrete steps to redress the unsustainable situation.
It therefore mandated the national leadership to mobilise for a one-day national protest march simultaneously across the country, to draw attention of our political leadership at all levels, that we cannot as a country, continue to put up with the recklessness of our political elite. The NEC further mandated the national leadership to liaise with Congress allies in the civil society, as well as professional associations and religious bodies to ensure that the protest enjoys massive support and participation, when it is eventually organised.
- Non-payment of WAEC Fees by State Governments: NEC-in-Session took note of the decision of the management of the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to withhold the results of thousands of students who sat for the May/June 2015 examinations, due to the indebtedness of some state governments to the examination body.
NEC expressed deep sadness over the neglect and default by the affected states which will affect the future educational pursuit, growth and development of thousands of our youth.
NEC resolved that the leadership of Congress should identify the affected states and work with the State Councils leadership of Congress in those states to pile pressure on them and the respective states Houses of Assembly, to ensure that urgent solutions are found to offsetting the indebtedness to WAEC.
- Revitalisation of the Labour Party: The NEC-in-Session received with delight the news of the retrieval of the original Certificate of Registration of the Labour Party (LP), from the former chairman of the party. It noted that this provides the opportunity needed for the national leadership to work towards a holistic revival and revitalisation of the party and position it to articulate and advance working class perspectives on the wider political and economic situation in the country.
- Merger of Ministries and Parastatals: The NEC deliberated on the ongoing pressure for the implementation of the Oronsanye Report on the merger of ministries, parastatals and agencies of government. Congress continues to express its reservation about the Oronsanye Report in as much as one of its cardinal objectives is rationalisation of staff of these ministries, parastatals and agencies of government. Our position is that against the backdrop of the unemployment in the land, we cannot support any measure or policy whose purpose is to send more Nigerians into the unemployment market.
The NEC therefore mandated the leadership of Congress to engage the new federal government on ways in which the ministries, parastatals and agencies can be managed more efficiently and productively, as well as cut wastages which is one of the endemic problems of our public sector.
- National Leadership Retreats: The NEC-in-Session endorsed the plan of the national leadership to organise leadership retreats for both the national and state leaderships of Congress. It expressed the expectation that the retreats would put the leadership of Congress in an effective mode to handle the many challenges which the labour movement in the country is grappling with.
Conclusion
The NEC-in-Session, while concluding, expressed confidence in the way the new leadership of Congress has strived to involve industrial unions in the major outings thus far; namely in organising this year’s May Day programme, coordination of attendance and participation at this year’s ILO Conference, and the state council elections, all of which were hugely successful. NEC notes that if the national leadership keeps working as a closely knitted team and keeps affiliates fully involved this way, then its chosen task of returning the Congress to its founding principles will be accomplished in record time.
Comrade Ayuba Wabba mni Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson
President General Secretary
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