LABOUR-NIGERIA: Modified, a Union Bill Still Gives Cause for Concern

By Sam Olukoya Reprint | | Print |

Sam Olukoya

LAGOS, Sep 11 2004 (IPS) - Controversy over a bill to amend Nigeria’s trade union laws surfaced again this week, when a modified version of the measure was passed by the country’s senate.

The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the bill, which may also be vetoed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.

While presenting a position paper on the measure to senate a fortnight ago, the minister of employment, labour and productivity, Hassan Muhammed Lawal, said it was meant “to promote the democratization of labour, and to further strengthen it.”

But, this claim was greeted with scorn by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the country’s only union federation, established in 1978.

The congress sees the measure as a thinly-veiled attempt to silence it, following the NLC’s vociferous opposition to government over matters such as the increase in fuel prices. Some see the congress as having taken over from an enfeebled opposition since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.

This point was acknowledged by Lawal: “The NLC has ventured into the arena of politics and has installed itself as the unofficial opposition party in the democratic process. It never sees any good thing in well-intentioned decisions of the government.”

Of particular concern to the congress is the fact that under the bill, it will cease to be the sole union federation.

NLC official Ismail Bello told IPS that a provision of the bill which makes it difficult for unions to collect dues will also starve the groups of funds.

“When you have your own resources you will be able to assert your own independence as an organisation,” he notes, adding “The government wants…weak trade unions that will not be able to rise up and mobilize the populace when there are policies that (may be considered) anti-people.”

In addition, the original draft of the bill sought to outlaw strikes. The senate has apparently limited this ban to those Nigerians who work in essential services, however. The NLC has staged three strikes over the past year to protest against increases in the fuel price caused by the removal of subsidies.

“If not for the Nigerian Labour Congress, I want to assure you that the fuel price would have been higher than what it is now,” Micheal Olukoya, chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the NLC, told the IPS.

He added that if the bill was passed by the House of Representatives, “People will just wake up and make laws because the fear of being opposed is no longer there. We shall become a conquered people in our country and it will mean those that died fighting for democracy would have died in vain.”

Labour specialist Bunmi Malomo told IPS that a ban on picketing contained in the new bill was also to the disadvantage of workers.

Under the measure, those who do so will now be liable for six months imprisonment. In recent years, workers have been fighting against a growing trend by companies to employ casual labour, by picketing firms which are found to be doing so.

“The consequence of banning workers from picketing is that workers will further lose their rights in the hands of employers that want to exploit them,” said Malomo.

In fact, it appears that only senior managers and the like have cause to smile about the union bill.

Before now, these employees were banned from forming a federation that would include all unions which defended their rights.

“It has been affecting our rights,” Lumuba Okugbawa of the Senior Staff Association of Petroleum Workers told IPS, adding “And we feel we should be given that freedom to associate at that umbrella level.”

However, senior workers are now free to form an umbrella union.

The bill has made steady progress in the House of Representatives, and is expected to be passed in the coming days. After that, it will be sent to the president to be signed into law.

There are doubts as to whether the amended measure will meet with the head of state’s approval, however, as the bill which he originally submitted to the senate contained harsher provisions than the version passed. The senate’s vote on the law took place Thursday, Sep. 9.

Ismail believes that if government truly had the interests of workers at heart, it would consider reviewing other aspects of Nigeria’s labour laws which have a more immediate effect on employees.

“The labour reform bill just touched on the Trade Unions Act, which has to do with how unions organise,” he notes. “Why is it not interested in the rights and safety of workers? Why is it not interested in the Factories Act? Why is it not interested in the Employment Act?"