NLC plans mass rally to demand for Obasanjo’s probe
By Soji-Eze Fagbemi
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President,
Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, speaking at a summit
on electoral reforms and National Housing Fund
(NHF) held in Bauchi, recently. Sitting beside him
is a former Lagos State governor and Minister of
Works and Housing, Alhaji Lateef Jakande.
Photo: Soji-Eze Fagbemi.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) converged on
Bauchi, Bauchi State, recently, to take a retrospec
tive look at the various problems affecting the workers and the country, with a view to finding lasting solutions to the problems.
The NLC began with a joint summit with the civil society on the electoral reforms. It blamed the leadership crisis in the country on election rigging and called on all Nigerians to work together to put an end to the trend.
“For us in the NLC, it is sad that Nigeria is still grappling with how to come up with a credible electoral system, 48 years after independence, whereas other countries, including many from Africa, have already moved beyond that stage and are coping with higher development challenges. Yet, a credible electoral process is a prerequisite for democracy, good governance and development in Nigeria.
“Therefore, Nigeria has to put a stop once and for all to the vicious cycle of election rigging. What election rigging primarily does is to impose thieves, misfits and incompetent rulers on Nigerians at all levels. Election rigging is at the root of the crisis of leadership,” NLC President Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar said.
Presenting the position of the Congress at the summit, Omar stated that the labour movement placed much hope in the National Electoral Reform Committee to deliver the country from these problems, hence, they (Labour) have invested valuable resources and efforts in developing their inputs into the committee’s work.
According to NLC, the Justice Mohammed Uwais led Committee has sufficient local and international goodwill “and therefore, has no excuse not to do a good job,” while its terms of reference “are sufficiently incisive and touches on all the decisive imperatives that need to be addressed,” adding that it also has access to all technical and intellectual resources it needed to do a good job.
The Congress challenged the Committee, saying, “today, we challenge honourable Justice Mohammed Uwais and other distinguished Nigerians on the Electoral Reform Panel to do a thorough job. History will be very kind to the committee if it recommends reform measures that can help to put some order and integrity in the electoral process.”
The NLC called for the sack of the leadership of Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying that the Prof. Maurice Iwu led INEC has remained a calamity and liability to Nigeria and should not be allowed to conduct fresh elections.
It blamed the National Assembly which has the constitutional power to sack Iwu for not doing so just because of the selfish interests of many of its (NASS) members.
The NLC also held an interactive session with the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) on the National Housing Fund (NHF) and the ineffectiveness of the 2.5 per cent being deducted from the workers salaries. The NLC stated that it had participated in the evolution of NHF in very good faith but opposed its operation because the original vision was subverted by successive governments.
However, Comrade Omar said the intention of the interactive session was not to lament the failures of the past but to identify ways to grow the housing fund, adding, “let us discuss and agree on ways that the fund can be managed prudently, transparently and efficiently,” and more importantly to develop strategies to ensure that workers really benefit.
However, he stated that “it is unfair and unacceptable that only workers are compelled to contribute to the Housing Fund,” adding that other stakeholders, such as Federal Government, banks, insurance, cement and paints factories and other businesses should by law make annual contributions to the fund.
Omar pointed out that with the reform, Federal Government should recapitalise the fund and make annual contributions from the budget, while it is very necessary to match the contributions of workers with employers’ contributions on monthly basis.
Besides, he stated that NLC had been excluded from the management of the fund despite the fact that its members form bulk of the contributors, regretting that NLC’s absence in oversight and participation has made the fund virtually the private property of Chief executives of the FMBN.
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