Service to humanity, these days, may be mere rhetoric. When services are rendered on humanitarian grounds, nothing but hope with positive turnaround is envisaged.
In 1947, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote that “corruption is the greatest defect of the native court system.” He stressed that not only the judges take bribes; people used their connections to enrich themselves and avoid punishment for their crimes. And in the same vein, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, said “the twin curses of corruption and bribery pervade every rank and department of government.” At that time, the slang awoof was already being used to describe how civil servants used their position to enrich themselves.
These sayings encapsulate the present Nigeria Labour Congress. NLC no longer holds the government accountable to the people. NLC member unions are so weak that they pray amiss and become common hired tools in the hands of politicians. Their impacts are not felt anymore. They negotiate for hardships instead of insisting on economic improvement.
The new agitation on minimum wage shows clearly that the labour leaders have no direction and nothing to offer Nigerian worker. They only seize the avenue to fight for their own purses and disrupt the peace of Nigeria.
The true focus of the union should be to find out why the present salaries can’t sustain workers and proffer solutions, not by agitating for more when it is obvious that state governments are struggling to pay salaries.
The labour unions should begin to show more seriousness, agitating for good governance and embracing the anti-corruption campaign of the present government, calling for congresses that will make government performance better.
They should move against revenue leakages, wasteful spending and exorbitant salaries of the National Assembly. Until then, Nigerians will see no difference between the NLC and markets unions where chieftaincy titles, political influence and market dues collections are paramount.
Always fighting for salary increments without the general wellbeing of all Nigerians is like walking on a lonely road at night. Should the union call for a strike now, trust me, Nigerians will not join in.
We need more than salary increments, we need your voice, your ingenuity and enduring tenacity.
- Adebusoye Francis
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