By Toye Olori
LAGOS, Mar 19 1998 (IPS)

Nigeria’s military government has sent a stern warning to the labour movement that it will not tolerate any moves to organise a new and independent national labour body to organise workers for collective bargaining.

During a recent workshop on ‘Labour Legislation and Review’, held in the Kwara State capital of Ilorin, security men stormed the meeting arresting Lagos-based lawyer Femi Falana, and later picked up 10 other participants from their hotel rooms at night.

The arrests follow a recent threat by Nigeria’s Labour Minister, Uba Ahmed, that the government would descend heavily on those involved in mobilising or encouraging trade unions affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to set up a parallel central labour organisation in the country.

Ahmed further warned trade unions and their leaders to desist from the plan of forming a parallel trade union or face the full wrath of the law.

Following the labour unrest of 1994, which lasted for about two months, the government appointed its own administrators to the executive of the NLC, an umbrella body for 29 industrial unions.

The 1994 crisis, which almost paralysed the economic activities of the country, cost the government 146 billion naira (about 1.78 million U.S. dollars).

Efforts by trade unionists to organise an election to replace the NLC’s dissolved executive have not gone far, which has led to calls by some unions for the formation of another national labour body for collective bargaining.

The government, once it got wind of the plans, denounced the idea and accused foreign organisations of backing the unions. Ahmed also indicated that “we will also react to some of these labour leaders that have accepted and made their views public on the pages of newspapers…”

The Labour Minister went on to say that the labour leaders had “set themselves on the course of breaching the laws of this country”.

Human rights groups have been quick to attack the government for its heavy-handed tactics against the labour leaders.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), which is headed by Falana, described his arrest late last week as a flagrant violation of Falana’s right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and that of other persons to move freely and unmolested as Nigerian citizens.

In a statement made available to IPS, the CDHR said the arrests must be condemned as human rights violations, and the move is another example of the culture of fear being created in the country by the military.

“The CDHR wishes to use this medium to warn the security agents of the military junta of the danger inherent in their unbriddled violation of citizens’ rights, which has created an atmosphere of insecurity and palpable tension in the country.

“Should the situation persist unchecked, the citizens are bound to react in a manner capable of exacerbating the political crisis and snapping for all time, the fragile peace in the land,” the human rights group said.

The Hotels and Personal Service Senior Staff Association has also condemned the arrest of its General Secretary, Abdulmalik Momoh, who was at the workshop and the 10 other participants.

Godfrey Oside, the Association’s president, said “the workshop was a mere labour intellectual workshop planned to enrich the participants knowledge on the existing labour laws in the interest of the nation and its advancement.”

The Nigerian government of General Sani Abacha has attempted to curtail the trade union movement’s activities, especially with international organisations.

There have been attempts in the past by the Abacha regime to severe links between Nigerian trade unions and their international counterparts.

In 1996, the government issued a decree which barred trade unions from affiliating with international labour organisations or trade secretariats without the approval of the Provisional Ruling Council, the highest ruling body in the country.

The decree ‘Trade Unions (International Affiliation) Decree 29 of 1996’, directed trade unions already affiliated to international organisations to cut such links.

Under the decree, any person who contravenes any of its provisions is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of 100,000 naira (about 1,200 U.S. dollars) or imprisonment for a term of five years or both.

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