By Moses John
Abuja
Members of the Presidential Committee Against Corruption, headed by Professor Itse Sagay, yesterday came under severe criticism from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over what the union described as an “unwarranted attack” on the organised labour.
The committee members drew the workers’ angst when the Acting Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress, Simeso Amachree, asked that NLC, TUC and the Civil Society Organisations be allowed to be part of the presidential committee, following which one of the committee members, Professor Femi Odekunle said “labour leaders are corrupt” and therefore can’t be admitted into the fold.
Similarly, Executive Secretary of the committee, Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, followed suit, when he said the inability of the workers’ union to protest alleged corruption in the National Assembly was a manifestation of their being compromised.
But in a hard response, the labour leadership said such a tag on the organised labour as a corrupt bunch was an unnecessary display of arrogance and self-righteousness.
They said: “And if PACAC members feel that that being appointed into the committee confers on them the status of sainthood, we beg to differ.”In a statement by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, labour said, “due to our respect for his record of support for popular struggles before he took the current appointment as chairman of the Advisory Committee, we had refrained from responding to an earlier unwarranted attack on organised labour by Professor Sagay.”
He said: “For Professor Odekunle, we know his records from ABU Zaria. It appears his recent trademark is his penchant for flippant and unguarded attacks against organised labour to draw attention of people in authority for political appointment.
“The secretary of the advisory committee, Professor Bolaji Owasanonye, in his comments, exhibited a total ignorance of our struggles against bad governance and corruption which was shocking.”
Recalling the role of the orgainsed labour in their support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaign, Wabba added: “We organised a nation-wide anti-corruption rally earlier in the life of the administration, and wrote President Buhari and the leadership of the National Assembly to strengthen the advisory committee so that it could deliver on its mandate, and likened the significance of the committee to that of President Yar’Adua setting up of the Electoral Reform Committee, which was also the first major committee of his presidency.
“Our actions were informed by our conviction that corruption was at the heart of our underdevelopment as a nation. This informed our call for capital punishment for some category of graft during our protest, a call that many of our civil society allies and sections of the NBA were uncomfortable with.”
Reeling out the NLC’s contributions to the anti-graft war since 1999, the labour leader said, “at the beginning of this Republic in February 1999, at a presidential parley the NLC organised at Ladi Kwali hall in Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, in which over 1000 workers attended, our panelist, Professor Attahiru Jega asked the PDP candidate, General Olusegun Obasanjo what he would do to tackle the issue of corruption in Nigeria.
“He said he was looking at the example of two countries, India and South Africa. That he would establish an agency to fight corruption. This was what gave birth to the ICPC.
“When the National Assembly was foot dragging on passing the executive bill, we mobilised to put pressure for the speedy passage. The NLC did a number of other protests against the National Assembly; from the furniture allowance of legislators to Etteh must go to cite a few.
“In the current 8th Assembly, we have robustly engaged them and urged urgent disclosures in the opaque remuneration of the National Assembly, cut in the expensive wages to meet the realities of our ruined economy etc.”
The unionist ordered how anyone could accuse organised labour of turning a blind eye to corrupt acts when two of its members had been shot in Nasarawa state during a protest for non-payment of workers’ salaries.
“The NLC Central Working Committee planned follow up action in Lafia had to be scaled down to avert organised carnage against workers. Perhaps the Bolajis would have preferred a further showdown and the resultant mayhem that was promised.”
While noting that the NLC had no intention whatsoever of joining the presidential committee, he added that Amachree’s suggestion was made in good faith and intended to broaden the fight against corruption.
