OBJ, Most Unfair President To Workers, Nigerians - Labour Leader

Adebayo KazeemThe first Workers’ Day under Umar Yar’Adua-led administration was celebrated last week with the labour leaders placing many demands before it, prominent among them are a renewed call for increase in workers’ salaries and immediate solution to the current food crisis in the country. In this interview with SEYI GESINDE, the immediate past Secretary-General of the National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees, Otunba Adebayo Kazeem, speaks on the current food crisis, the way out and the need for increase in workers’ salaries, among other sundry issues. Excerpts:

The first labour day was celebrated under the Umar Yar’Adua-led administration, thus far, how do you see labour as a relevant movement in Nigeria, especially under the present dispensation?
The labour movement in Nigeria is very much on course, we have very committed and dedicated leaders at both the levels of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress. As a matter of fact, they have been doing what the Nigerian working people expect them to do, and with a continued support, I know they will still do more.

Recently, there was an increase of prices of food stuffs in the market, what do you think accounts for this?
It should not surprise us that prices of food stuffs have gone up. Why I said this is because for too long the government has neglected agriculture. As you know, before now, agriculture was the main revenue earner for Nigeria where you talk of cocoa beans, coffee, rubber plantation and so on. Nigeria made a lot of money from these products, even shortly after independence. But immediately the government discovered oil, it abandoned agriculture, all the successive governments too never had plans for agriculture at all. Even though we are blessed with vast areas of land, local farmers still engage in the use of cutlasses and hoes to till the land; at the level we are in the country today, mechanised farming ought to have gone round all local governments in the country, so that they can produce enough food stuffs for the consumption of Nigerians, so the total neglect of the agriculture is responsible for the increase of food stuffs prices in the markets.

One of the policies of the last admnistartion was to encourage the planting of cassava for local production and to earn foreign exchange for the country through it, what is also the problem with this?
Yes, during the days of the past administartion at the federal level, one of the policies of government was that cassava should be exported as cash crops, but we have not been able to produce enough for local consumption, we are exporting foods which otherwise should have been made available for Nigerians, these are some of the things responsible for the present crisis in the country.

Recently were plans for a re-birth of cocoa , but much hasn’t been heard of the successes achieved. Looking at this from another angle, don’t you think the stakeholders in the agriculture sector should also be blamed, knowing full well that many of the few manufacturing companies in the country are owned by foreigners, why can’t Nigerians also invest in this sector?
To a certain extent, I will say yes. But don’t forget that it is not the employers of labour that formulate laws for this country, it is the government. It is natural that any employer will want to make profits, most of them have to power their generating sets all through the day, and when you look at the cost when it is added to the cost of production, it is too much, and most Nigerians may not be able to afford the prices of locally produced goods. That is why some of these employers will prefer either to smuggle goods or illegally import finished products to the country, it costs less through these means and they make a lot of money, because they will not have to power their generating sets, or go into processing, what they will only have to do is repackaging and so on; so it is the responsibility of government to enact laws to discourage all these, so it is the government that has neglected its roles, especially the past administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

You’ve shifted that blame on Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, so in your assessment, how fair do you think his administration was to the labour and the generality of Nigerians?
How fair?
Yes!
I will tell you that Obasanjo’s administration was very unfair to the working people of this country. Don’t forget that for the first time in the history of this country, a general salary increase agreement was signed between the representatives of government and labour to the effect that the civil servants will be entitled to 25 per cent wage increase, but at the time of implementation, that government refused and rather demanded for the reduction of the agreement which eventually brought it down to 12.5 per cent. A responsible government will not do that, you can’t do that in the organised private sector, it cannot happen.

Again, if you look at the frequency at which the prices of petroleum products were increased, will you say that it is fair to the working people? It is certainly unfair. There are a lot of policies put in place by Obasanjo’s administration to the detriment of the working class and indeed the generality of the masses of this country. You look at the prices of kerosene today, you will be surprised that Nigerians are paying much more for kerosene than petrol, and this is what Nigerians consume more, so in what manner has his administration been helpful to the masses. Look at electricity, obviously a lot of Nigerians should not be at where we are now, we are not at where we ought to be, powering productions with generating sets jacks up the cost of production, making things so expensive in the market. Again, you look at the billions of dollars that have gone into the so-called electricity project, you find out that it is very ridiculous, and you begin to wonder if that administration truly served the Nigerians.

Still on electricity, the House of Representatives is currently probing into it, and like you rightly said, billions of dollars have been found wasted on the project, making many Nigerians calling for those found wanton to be brought to book,the arrowhead being Chief Olusegun Obsanjo, what is your own view on this?
You see, that is why someone like myself has also felt that the EFCC has been one-sided, very selective, I wonder if that administration really fought corruption, and the EFCC did not know how corruption went into the electricity project, is it possible for EFCC not to know there is corruption in the NNPC? Yes, on probe, one should commend the House of Representatives, they are doing a good job, one only hopes that at the end of the investigations and recommendations, the issues will not be swept under the executive carpet. I don’t believe that there are two laws in this country, one for the rich and one for the poor. If the former Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange, could be arraigned for misappropriating N300 million meant for her ministry, then what stops the EFCC from arresting Obasanjo? He did worse, he committed worse and, of course, he should be apprehended and charged to court.

He needs to explain to Nigerians how he messed up several billions of naira earmarked for the electricity project. But despite this, many are still of the opinion that electricity generation in the country may not be solved because of a powerful cabal, the generating set-merchants who may not be favoured if things worked right because of their business, is this so?
We have a government and one of the major responsibilities of any responsible government is the welfare of the citizens. This is also a government which has been calling for foreign investors to come, forgetting that without a stable electricity not much could be achieved, no investor will want to come and invest in a place where you have to burn your money on fuel-propelled generating sets all through the day. You remember the case of Michelin; after operating for many years in Nigeria, they had to close down because the economy could no longer sustain their business, and that is blamed largely on non-provision of stable electricity, and this is the problem affecting all employers. It is the responsibility of government, if it discovers that there is a powerful cabal working against the actualisation of electricity project, to get those involved and bring them to book. It may not be impossible that even the ministers or those in Aso Rock are behind the importation of generating sets, but should it be so? It shouldn’t be so, but that is the reality of the matter.

But given the existing situation in the country, as a labour leader, do you really find it avoidable?
Of course, it is a major problem, what does it take the government to outlaw the importation of generating sets into the country? It doesn’t cost government anything to say that. It is its responsibility to say that in the next six months, the importation of generating sets should not be allowed into the country, except for the industrial ones which certain manufacturing companies may need to still keep them in business. I can assure you, if it is tackled from this angle, in the next one year, there will be improvement in the provision of electricity.

Back to the food prices, most importantly, the prices of rice which outrageously went up, but which President Umar Yar’Adua has voted several billions of naira for its importation into the country, same thing for the cement price, what do you think is responsible for all these?
As earlier said, the neglect of agriculture is a major aspect of it. I remember that in my younger days, there were no imported rice, call it Uncle Ben’s, and so on, we were used to Ofada rice, it tastes better and we enjoyed it better. The Ofada rice is still there and the avenue to grow it in large quantities is still there, so if the government has allowed for it to be cultivated in large quantities, things will be better, but government is doing this because they are the importers of these products to the country and through that they make their money.

I also heard that N80 billion has been earmarked for the importation of rice to the country, that will not solve the problem of this country, the N80 billion may not even bring the quantity of rice that is worth N10 billion to this country, because the middle men are there, the commission agents are there, the big time importers are there, and, of course, the problem of over invoicing, so it will not solve the problem, it is only an opportunity to enrich the people in authority, Nigerians will be the worse for it. Government should go back to the drawing board, revive the agricultural sector and make sure farmers are assisted by providing mechanised farming for them, even financial assistance to allow them grow sufficient food for the consumption of the people in this country.

What you just said brings us to the question of sincerity among the country’s legislators, going by the revelation that an individual in the Federal House of Representatives collects up to N114, 000 as their feeding allowance per day, and if those voted to represent the cause of the common man could get so much as this on food per day when Nigerians cannot afford a N10 food per day, how justifiable is this?
Honestly, when I read this on the pages of newspapers and also heard over the radio, I couldn’t believe it, I asked myself a lot of questions. If the government says N6, 500 or N7, 500 per month is sufficient as a take-home for workers now, how could the same government justify the feeding allowance for the elected representatives, I think it is very unfair to the Nigerian people, what they have done in this regard is nothing short of greediness and that decision must be reversed, otherwise the workers should rise to the challenge and make it known to them that workers are not slaves, and I want to believe that the leadership of the NLC is already addressing this because the workers are the producers of wealth in the country, and the congress will not allow this to go unchallenged.

But the leadership of the present NLC has been challenged as being too quiet, especially given the pressure the former leadership mounted on the past administration, what is your view?
You see, we have different styles of leadership, as you can see the approach of Obasanjio is not the same as that of Yar’Adua, and that does not imply that he can’t be an achiever or serve the country better, so as a leader myself, I believe you may not need to bang the table before you fight for your people, so the way Abdulwaheed Omar is tackling the problems of labour should be seen as his own style and it is not weakness at all.

At the level of your own union, how did you fair in office?
Well as the immediate past leader of the union, while I was in office, I can beat my chest and say that the interest of the food workers were well-represented and protected, and we have been able to establish that without any iota of doubt through our skilful negotiation which has produced the best conditions of service for the organised workers in the manufacturing sector of the country. Even now that I am on retirement, I know the present leadership, though just newly elected on the 17 of January, 2008, they are doing their best and they have a lot of programmes in the pipeline for the benefits of members.

But going by the exploitative nature of employers in the tobacco companies, warranting the suit the Oyo State Government and some NGOs instituted against some of these companies, claiminig several billions of naira from them for selling their products to the minors, would you say your union did its best?
I think the government is only being unrealistic, in the sense that the battle against tobacco smoking is what government cannot win. There is no manufacturer who can prevent its products from getting to the youth or as you call them “under-aged”, because they have their distribution network, they can only instruct their distributors not to sell to the minors under-aged, but adults, if they can comply. But as a father, if I smoke cigarette, and my under-aged children have access to my pack of cigarette and smoke them, will I also attribute that to the fault of the manufacturers? Certainly not. I’ll say parents also have a great responsibility in this area because if as a father or mother you smoke cigarettes, you have little or no control over your children, because it is an habit emulated from you. Therefore, that is possible in an environment where nobody smokes cigarette at all. But as long as government allows for the production of cigarette in the country, that same government cannot come to say that the manufacturers should be held responsible for selling to the minors. We should also not forget that those companies applied for registration, they were licensed and registered in Nigeria, paying their dues, taxes, custom duties, and so on, so having been licensed and authorised to produce, that same government should not complain about their products.

Do you see government responding to the demands for salary increase by labour?
We just talked about the N114, 000 per day as feeding allowance per legislator, so, on what ground will government say workers do not deserve salary increase? In fact, if N114, 000 could be collected as legislators individual feeding allowance per day, we can even say that N114, 000 should be the minimum wage for Nigerian workers, because that is just their feeding allowance, there are several other allowances legislators collect, we have not talked about their housing, travelling and other allowances, so they have no justification to say the workers’ allowance should not be increased. I’ll only appeal to friends in the media not to give it much publicity if a reasonable increase is granted at the end of the day, the implication is that it may increase inflation if people in the market know that workers’ salaries have been increased.

With all the problems highlighted thus far, what do you think will be the solution(s) to them?
All those who have misappropriated, embezzled funds earmarked for electricity projects in this country should be brought to book, charged to court and if found guilty, must be sentenced to prison terms without any options of fine, if that is not done, even if Yar’Adua comes tomorrow and says Obasanjo spent 16 billion dollars, and no results, I can assure you that we will only go back to square one, because if those who embezzled the electricity allocations on the Independent Power Project are not sent to jail, if others come, they will also do the same, so those found guilty should be sent to jail. Besides, the importation of generating sets should be banned without allowing it to affect industrial ones so that the industries are not negatively affected.