Ugboaja emerges NLC scribe

AFTER painstaking and rigorous interviews, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja defeated Comrade Benson Upah and two others to emerge the new General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Well loved by the congress staff, the NLC affiliate unions and members of the media for his humility and hard work, Ugboaja, who was a Principal Assistant General Secretary and Head of Industrial Relations and  organizing of NLC, scored 83 marks to defeat the two nearest candidates, Comrade Upah, the head of Information and Comrade Chris Uyot, the Deputy General Secretary, who scored 53 marks each. The fourth candidate, Comrade Olusegun Rotimi also scored 42 marks.

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The interview was conducted by an eight-man establishment committee of the NLC, headed by a deputy president of the congress and President of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Dr Mohammad Nasir Idris. The outgoing General Secretary of the congress, Dr. Peter Ozo-Ezon, served as the secretary of the committee.

Ugboaja, a 1987 law graduate of the University of Calabar, Cross River State, joined the NLC secretariat from one of its affiliate unions in 2009. He was a former General Secretary, National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non Metallic Products Employees, (NUCFRLANMPE).

The newly appointed general secretary is a robust negotiator, and a super-master in leading protests and lock-outs. Players in the Labour movement believe that the choice of Ugboaja is a perfect one. For many years, he took charge and anchored the congress programmes, most especially whenever the NLC hosted very important personalities in and from outside the country.

Ugboaja is the fifth general secretary of the NLC since the inception of the congress in 1978. The former NLC general secretaries since 1978 are Comrade Aliyu Dangiwa, 1978 to 1986; Dr. Lasisi Osunde, 1986 to 1992; Comrade John Odah, 2001 to  2011, and the outgoing, Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson,2014 to 2019.

The task before the new general secretary is enormous. The NLC is believed, in some quarters, to have lost credibility since the crisis that rocked the congress and cumulated in the sack of its former General Secretary, Comrade John Odah. Besides, the crisis that followed the National Delegate conference and election of the congress President in 2015 led to a faction in the congress. The Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), left the fold, and all efforts till today to bring them back to the congress is not successful.

More importantly, one of the reasons why all efforts to resolve the crisis was unsuccessful was the appointment of the outgoing General Secretary, Comrade Ozo-Eson, and further extension of his tenure, when it ended. NUEE and NUPENG had kicked against the appointment of Ozo-Eson, and insisted on his removal as one of the criteria to be fulfilled by the NLC, for them to return to the congress.

The appointment of Ugboaja, which has been described as a round peg in a round hole in the Labour sector, could soon change the present unsatisfactory perception about the NLC.

There is no doubt that the popularity of the NLC has waned considerably, due to this and few other factors; while the public perception of the congress has been low, but players in the Labour movement are of the opinion that his coming will positively affect the congress perception, with his level of activism, oratory prowess, and as a robust negotiator as well as a strategist in organising protests.

The young and very vibrant new NLC scribe has, however, promised to reposition the congress for utmost effective performance; the congress which Nigerian people would see as the voice of the workers and that of the general masses.

In a notification of his appointment issued and signed by the president of the NLC on Sunday, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said the appointment of Comrade Ugboaja as the new General Secretary of the NLC followed the approval of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the NLC at its regular meeting held in Kano. He added that the appointment was with immediate effect.

Comrade (Barrister) Emmanuel Okechukwu Ugboaja, born on 15th May, 1966, is a 1987 Law graduate of the University of Calabar. In 1993, he became the first lawyer in Nigeria to work full time for a trade union when he joined the National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress. He rose through the ranks of the union to serve as the General Secretary from 2000 to 2005.

Between 2006 and 2009, Comrade Emmanuel Okechukwu Ugboaja was appointed as the Coordinator, Advocacy and Mobilization of the Alliance for Credible Elections, a foremost Nigerian Civil Society Organization with focus on electoral matters.

In 2005, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja was a delegate to the 2005 President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Political/Constitutional Reform Conference. He was also a delegate to the President Goodluck Jonathan Constitution Review Conference of 2014.