Factional president of the Nigeria labour congress (NLC) and General Secretary of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Joe Ajaero has challenged the Present leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to respond adequately to emerging national issues.
According to Ajaero, the Congress has allegedly “shown clear lack of the needed cohension and depth to engage the Government and others adequately”.

In a letter addressed to NLC reconciliation committee chairman, Hassan Sunmonu and titled:” The reconciliation effort-Our worries and urgent need for action”, Ajaero said the alleged lack of capacity and capability is truly an expression of the inappropriate ideological foundations needed to articulate and project the various interests of “our diverse public as a trade union movement as it concerns these issues”.
He said the labour body was operating “sub optimally thus the results are clearly very little”.

Ajaero said: “It has become imperative at this time that we write you to express our worries on the seemingly convoluted reconciliation effort which may have unwittingly turned into a framework along the line to frustrate its original objectives”.

He explained that rebuilding solidarity and cohesion within the Congress and the movement which broke down as a result of alleged actions of certain individuals within the family.

Explaining further, Ajaero said: “We had believed that all of us were genuinely committed to speedily working through the process to reach acceptable compromises that would assist us in building a new and vibrant movement and not pseudo outcomes that may further undermine Nigerian workers and weaken the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) – a platform built on sound ideological foundations.

A perception albeit erroneously may have been injected into some minds because of recent events on the score that the on-going reconciliation framework may have been reduced to a construct to “dialogue the issues to death.

We are also worried that given the avalanche of emerging national issues demanding creative responses from the movement that the Congress has shown clear lack of the needed cohesion and depth to engage the Government and others adequately.

This lack of capacity and capability is truly an expression of the inappropriate acuity of ideological foundations needed to articulate and project the various interests of our diverse public as a trade union movement as it concerns these issues. We are operating sub optimally thus the results are clearly very little.

It is worrying that for example, on the Electricity Tariff increase issue, which the uncoordinated response thus far denies the ideological foundations of the problem and dwelt mainly on the effect when we all know of the primacy of neo-liberal postulation of privatisation as the cause and critical factor while increasing electricity tariff is merely a symptom.

Perhaps, this may be driven by the fact that Labour had shot itself on the foot when it sided with Capital against labour during the privatisation exercise.

If the movement is working together with all its forces combined and making inputs into these engagements especially the Unions within that sector, our responses would have been more coherent, pungent and productive than the case presently. We are not together because the process of reconciliation has been unfortunately turned into an intractable construct.

Our anxiety is therefore anchored and driven by the fear of continued lack of protection for the Nigerian workers and masses that have come to depend on us. Our anxiety is also for the prevention of the deepened erosion of our relevance to the masses and workers which a conscious and deliberate prolongation of the reconciliation effort seems to have facilitated.

The pressure and call to duty has become recently overwhelming from our various public for adequate response to these critical emerging national issues.

However, we have patiently waited on the process to work itself out speedily for the benefit of the movement and membership but unfortunately, the reverse has become the case. We had wanted the movement to have presented a united front in confronting these challenges but once again, we seem to have walked in error.

We have therefore decided that it will be irresponsible and a dereliction of duty in keeping with the traditions of the Congress as a bastion of the conscience of the masses to continue with the reconciliation effort if it proceeds beyond the end of this month.
“The process as presently configured has begun to work against the interest of Nigerian workers and the Congress. It is therefore a trap we must all avoid. Urgent action is needed to avert these worries.

It is important that we re-emphasis that we may no longer be found available at the table any longer if these meetings continue beyond the end of January 2016.
“Do please accept the assurances of our commitment and loyalty to Nigerian workers and the various traditions and values of the Congress even as you take urgent measures to ensure that this trap is completely removed. Have a very pleasant 2016”.