In this interview with MOSES JOHN, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, speaks on allegations of recruitment racketeering at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF); face-off between Nasarawa government and workers as well as plans by the federal government to borrow.
What is your take on allegations of recruitment racketeering rocking the NSITF, Minister of Labour reportedly flouted due process in recruitment?
This is the first time I am hearing about this information and for whatever reason this took place. However, we will continue to canvass for what is right.
For me we will continue to follow due process and issue of good governance, anything aside that, won’t work well for our system, and therefore our system will continue to suffer if that continues to happen.
Not only that, it also means that issue of competent, Federal Character which is the law has also not been followed and so it will certainly not go well for our system.
So, my position is that as an organisation, we have always canvassed for what is right and that will continue to be our position. If anything is built on a faulty foundation, it cannot stand, what will stand is what is built on the rule of law. Therefore, today we are fighting a process that is not build on the rule of law. So, we must remain consistent with that and that will be our position.
Also, I think that brings us to the issue of constitution of boards, I know that if the boards were there, the influence on some of the organisations would have been reduced, because the boards have the responsibility to appoint, promote and discipline.
And when that is in place, the issue of Federal Character, due process will be reinforce. For me I think it doesn’t make sense that government will dissolve the boards of those key organisations and refuse to reconstitute them, especially where Labour has interest because the money there is not government money, it is contribution that is being made by employers on behalf of workers.
So, dissolution of the boards has given room for manipulation and also things like this. Let me also use this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the boards of organisations that have direct bearing with workers interest and also workers welfare.
You know that the issue of employees’ compensation is what the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has been doing over years through funds that had been contributed by employers and workers. This is our fund, therefore, the process of managing them must be transparent and that cannot be done if the law is not respected.
I think it is high time, with what we are now seeing, that we have to aggressively canvass that the boards of these key organisations be put in place. This is because they have statutory functions that they need to discharge. It has also been alleged that this anomaly takes place at the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and others. So, I think what is wrong should be seen as wrong and what is right should also be seen as right. There should also be opportunity for children of the poor through competing employment, in view of the problems of unemployment in the country.
The joint committee of National Assembly has ordered the reversal of the recruitment. What is your opinion of that?
It is very clear, I told you that our position as NLC is that anything we do must conform with the rule of law and due process. If the reason they ordered the reversal is because it did not follow due process, then it is in line with our position.
The thing is, in all circumstance, we must adhere to the rule of law and follow due process. In this case, we have many laws that ought to have been respected, like Federal Characters and the issue of making the process transparent. So, we are for rule of law and that’s what is going to help us as a country.
Don’t also forget that on the issue of good governance, we also canvassed for this through a protest and so we must continue to insist that all processes must be transparent and also conform with our laws. I think that has been our position and we have been consistence with that.
What is the position of the NLC on the federal government’s plans to borrow?
First, they need to show us their plan, but borrowing is not a bad idea, especially if they are borrowing to build infrastructures and that we have said very clearly, that instead of selling our assets, because it is only when you are credit worthy that people will even lend you money.
So, the fact is that we must see the plan, if it is to borrow to build infrastructures and make power supply available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Whether we do it now or in the future, I think it is something that we need to do, also to build our rail system.
Our position is that, don’t borrow to continue to do jamboree, because we have seen in recent time that money was borrowed to fight insurgency but at the end of the day it ended in private pockets.
We are against borrowing money to share in any whatever guise, so let the plan be known to us, only then will NLC interrogate the plan and make inputs. So, we are against any borrowing that will not add value to our key infrastructures, especially power, rail system connecting all part of this country as well as roads network.
For me this is very critical. All over the world, you need huge capital to fixed these key infrastructures.
What’s the position of the NLC on the industrial dispute Nasarawa state, against that backdrop that the state government is yet to pay August and September salaries?
First, let me say that we are not in support of that, because before the industrial action was suspended, there was a mutual agreement, that agreement was written and signed when the government said they are reverting to the old salary scheme, and that all other auxiliary issues will be taken to the negotiating table, that we are committed to doing and also that is the position of our state council. Anything short of that is not our position.
Am aware that some days ago the Minister of Labour called them for a meeting and we also sent inputs trying to draw the attention of the ministry, because they also intervened in trying to reconcile the process, but I was told that the state government told the ministry that they are still on the negotiating table and that they are committed to the agreement which they signed.
You can only apply ‘no work no pay’ in a situation where there is a default by the workers, in this case it is not workers that did not respect the agreement, but it is the government that does not respect the collective bargaining agreement where they have signed the minimum and the maximum pay on the salary table.
Those things are sacrosanct, no party can change those things without the consent of the other party, that is what collective bargaining agreement is all about.
In that case, they don’t have any ground to invoke ‘no work no pay’. We also believe this can be pursued in the negotiation table and when it fails, we have other ways we can do it.
