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16 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022<br />
Send Opinions & Letters to:<br />
opinions1234@yahoo.com<br />
No negotiating the Presidency<br />
THE Afenifere leader, Pa Ayo Adebanjo,<br />
has said it as it is, as usual. At a public<br />
lecture in Lagos on Monday, he chided the<br />
North for insisting that the South East must<br />
"negotiate" with it for support to produce the<br />
president of Nigeria next year. Saying that<br />
Afenifere is a principled organisation that<br />
believes in equity, justice, and fair play, Pa<br />
Adebanjo affirmed correctly that it is the turn<br />
of the South East to produce the next president<br />
of Nigeria, contrary to the false assertion of<br />
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that it is his turn.<br />
He chided the North for claiming to have a<br />
superior population that is able to decide who<br />
gets to be president of Nigeria, as there is no<br />
credible evidence to prove such an assumption.<br />
As I have observed in earlier articles, our<br />
fathers and leaders, like Pa Adebanjo and Chief<br />
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, are beacons of hope<br />
that Nigeria may still survive.<br />
These are the real nationalists. Adebanjo and<br />
Clark are saying: our ethnic groups have been<br />
favoured by the rotation and power-sharing<br />
principles, even when we were at great<br />
disadvantage. The Igbo nation supported us<br />
with their votes, they also supported the North.<br />
It is unfair and antithetical to the national<br />
spirit to deny them of their right, or place<br />
impossible hurdles in their way now that it is<br />
their turn to lead. You cannot beat the message<br />
and the logic driving it.<br />
The word: "negotiation" has become a<br />
football that some of us play the way we want,<br />
to satisfy our selfish desires. Merriam-Webster<br />
dictionary defines "negotiate" as: "to confer with<br />
another to arrive at the settlement of some<br />
matter." There is no doubt, this word is relevant<br />
in a diverse Nigeria that has not achieved<br />
harmony like other great ethno-religious<br />
diversities such as the United States of America,<br />
India, Brazil and others. The Bible says two<br />
cannot walk together unless they agree.<br />
Nigerians have not agreed. That is why the<br />
country is crisis-riddled. That is why the system<br />
is not working. The South calls for a renegotiation<br />
of Nigeria. Nigeria was negotiated<br />
before independence, but the departing British<br />
colonialists used the sudden delimitation of<br />
constituencies just before the federal elections<br />
of 1958 and 1959 to give unmerited<br />
constituency advantages to the North.<br />
Similarly, the North-controlled military<br />
political class also split Nigeria into 36 states<br />
and Abuja in a manner that gave the North 19<br />
or 20 states and the South 17. The number of<br />
federal electoral constituencies was also<br />
configured to give the North a commanding<br />
edge over the South. Successive population<br />
censuses have been used to justify an incredible<br />
claim of a northern majority over the South.<br />
All these were concocted to empower the North<br />
and enable its tiny oligarchy and its crumbscollecting<br />
janissaries in the South to parasite<br />
on the wealth of the South.<br />
The South’s calls for a renegotiation are<br />
greeted with the refrain, "Nigeria’s unity is nonnegotiable."<br />
They kick against any move to<br />
reform our federalism and make it more<br />
equitable. But on the other hand, the same<br />
North is fond of insisting that any part of the<br />
South billed to produce the president must<br />
come and "negotiate" with it. The question is,<br />
what dividend came out when the North and<br />
South negotiated for president? The defunct<br />
Northern People’s Congress, NPC, in 1959<br />
negotiated with the National Council for<br />
Nigerian Citizens, NCNC, yet their<br />
government ended in a bloody, revolutionary<br />
coup that produced the Civil War. Alhaji Shehu<br />
Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria, NPN,<br />
negotiated with the Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s<br />
The North never kept to the<br />
pacts; what guarantees do you<br />
have that the North will abide<br />
by the terms of the negotiations<br />
if the South East agrees to<br />
negotiate the presidency?<br />
Nigerian People’s Party, NPP, in 1979 to share<br />
power in an accord government. It ended in a<br />
coup in 1983.<br />
In addition, retired Major General<br />
Muhammadu Buhari negotiated with Alhaji<br />
Bola Tinubu in 2013 and produced the<br />
incumbent government in 2015, which is<br />
ending in disaster. On the other hand, General<br />
Abdulsalami Abubakar not only barred<br />
Northern politicians from contesting for the<br />
presidency in 1999, he also virtually imposed<br />
General Olusegun Obasanjo on Nigerians. Yet,<br />
Obasanjo emerged as the most successful<br />
president since 1999. I am not saying that the<br />
negotiation of the presidency is bad per se, or<br />
that it, on its own, was responsible for<br />
government failures. I am saying that even the<br />
negotiated governments still failed. The reason<br />
for that was simple. The elite negotiated to<br />
share political posts and loot our<br />
commonwealth. They did not negotiate for<br />
development. Even if they did, they jettisoned<br />
it once in power because it was not really their<br />
move for negotiating.<br />
Secondly, all negotiated governments<br />
favoured the North, because their southern<br />
counterparts were more willing to share. Those<br />
governments still failed because the North’s<br />
"dominative tendencies" later always showed<br />
up due to their disdain for equity. The North<br />
never kept to the pacts. What guarantees do<br />
you have that the North will abide by the terms<br />
of the negotiations if the South East agrees to<br />
negotiate the presidency? Thirdly, the issue of<br />
the North’s perceived game-changing<br />
population remains a ruse. It has been proven,<br />
time and time again, that no section of the<br />
country can produce a president to the<br />
exclusion of another. The North’s "majority"<br />
which is padded with millions of child voters<br />
and foreigners, still failed to give Buhari the<br />
presidency until the South (Tinubu, Chibuike<br />
Amaechi, Rochas Okorocha and others)<br />
supported him. The North alone cannot<br />
produce 25 percent of voters in 24 states, since<br />
it has only 19 states.<br />
If there is to be a negotiation, it should be for<br />
mutual purposes, not one-sided. It must also<br />
be people-centred, and the pacts must be<br />
implemented to the letter. It should not be for<br />
elite consumption. What we really need is a<br />
renegotiation of our federalism. Meanwhile,<br />
let’s give the candidates a free hand to<br />
campaign. Let’s not use ethno-religious and<br />
regional platforms to harass or blackmail<br />
them for selfish gain.<br />
ASUU, Ngige and the parapet of labour laws<br />
By IBRAHIM JIBIA<br />
EVEN if the Minister of Labour<br />
and Employment, Senator<br />
Chris Ngige, has gone personal in<br />
mediating the dispute between<br />
ASUU and the Federal Government,<br />
it can be successfully argued that all<br />
he has done is meticulously engage<br />
the relevant provisions of the Trade<br />
Disputes Act and the Trade Union<br />
Act to bring discipline and decorum<br />
to labour administration. ASUU, it<br />
must be stated unambiguously, is<br />
fighting a cause that cannot be punctured<br />
on the scale of patriotism but<br />
counterproductive, which must be<br />
accepted, given the manner and way<br />
it has lately pursued this. Social dialogue<br />
was effectively displaced, and<br />
social distemper enthroned, degenerating<br />
to cross-party name-calling<br />
and "panjandrum," the Zik of Africa<br />
would say.<br />
In the midst of it, was dissension<br />
over the place of law in the entire<br />
conundrum. But every progressive<br />
and prosperous society thrives on triumph<br />
of laws. In our peculiar clime,<br />
unfortunately, arguments still<br />
abound whether the problem of the<br />
country is the inadequacy of laws or<br />
the weakness of political authority<br />
to enforce laws despite their shortcomings.<br />
And just as the argument<br />
goes on, the quest for a better country<br />
where our children will suffer less<br />
than we currently face, gives no respite.<br />
The minister of labour must<br />
have chosen to prove there are<br />
enough laws in labour statute book<br />
to put restiveness on the back foot<br />
and ensure equable production milieu.<br />
But God continues to love Nigeria.<br />
While the strike lasted, over<br />
two million youths were dispatched<br />
to loiter at home, adding to the army<br />
of unemployed others, whose percentage<br />
was put at 34 percent by the<br />
National Bureau of Statistics. This<br />
is amidst galloping inflation, runaway<br />
prices of goods and services,<br />
amidst terrorism, banditry, kidnap-<br />
ping and armed robbery.<br />
Sadly, terrorism, thought to be resident<br />
of the ungoverned far-flung national<br />
periphery, surfaced in the nation’s<br />
centre. Kuje prison was disemboweled,<br />
hardened scorpion elements<br />
diffused, still at large. The<br />
chilly Kaduna train attack, became<br />
a prized trophy for terrorists, emboldened<br />
to even issue a threat to the<br />
President, further staging saber-rattling<br />
at Abuja suburb. Uprising capable<br />
of engulfing the entire nation<br />
would have snapped with the restiveness<br />
in the mass of idle youth<br />
population. Luckily, ASUU is back<br />
to school but skirmishes continue<br />
between it and the government over<br />
unresolved issues, accentuated lately<br />
by the pro rata payment of October<br />
salaries to university teachers.<br />
Ngige as usual is a constant factor<br />
at the receiving end of ceaseless<br />
blames. The no work-no pay protest<br />
organised by the University of<br />
Lagos chapter of ASUU was a lead<br />
op-ed on the bursting thoughts<br />
among members nationwide. It was<br />
literally gloves off for the chapter<br />
chairman, Dele Ashiru, who is as<br />
combative as his president, Emmanuel<br />
Osodeke.<br />
"Ngige is the agent provocateur;<br />
he is the one instigating the government<br />
against ASUU. He has inexplicable<br />
hatred against our union<br />
and that is the reason he turned our<br />
struggle to a personal fight." The allegations<br />
are long. "It was Ngige<br />
who poisoned the FEC against our<br />
union. Ngige started the campaign<br />
of "no work, no- pay" against our<br />
union. Ngige dragged ASUU before<br />
the court; Ngige wrote the Ministry<br />
of Finance to stop our salary and<br />
make it prorated. He registered two<br />
stinking unions to weaken our union,<br />
which was against the Trade Union<br />
Act. Ngige also wanted our union to<br />
be proscribed, suggesting that we<br />
have not been submitting our aaccounts<br />
Ngige is out there to destroy<br />
public universities." I partly agree<br />
with Ashiru. The Minister of Labour<br />
is not known for taking prisoners.<br />
His precedent is that once he is within<br />
the legal boundaries, all paws are<br />
out. However, the legality or otherwise<br />
of the track he walks to make<br />
ASUU earn its pay, time-proven tripartite<br />
social dialogue having collapsed,<br />
is in focus to prove ASUU or<br />
vindicate Ngige. But there is some<br />
bad news. The crisis in the public<br />
universities is festering like a wildfire<br />
fueled by harmattan wind. A<br />
source, I can’t place right out, had<br />
argued that Nigerian universities are<br />
hardly in the news for scientific research<br />
break through or academic<br />
excellence. It is always about doomscrolling<br />
that tethers the system<br />
to decadence. Does it shock that<br />
only the University of Ibadan and<br />
Lagos could make the list of 600 best<br />
world universities released by the<br />
Times Higher Education Global<br />
University in 2022?<br />
Did you know that<br />
education is classified as<br />
an essential service for<br />
which a strike requires 15<br />
days' notice under Section<br />
7 of the Trade Disputes<br />
Act, Cap. 9? Available<br />
records only recall<br />
ASUU complied last with<br />
this in 2017<br />
The report further highlighted lack<br />
of political will and financial commitment<br />
to lift higher education from<br />
the doldrums. Political commitment<br />
and financial will are key operative<br />
phrases that may explain the reason<br />
federal budget on education dwindled<br />
from 11 percent in 2015 to 5.3<br />
percent in 2021. But while the issue<br />
of funding remains cardinal in repositioning<br />
the university system,<br />
proper management of scarce resources<br />
becomes an albatross in a<br />
system accused of corruption. While<br />
the report of the visitation panels set<br />
up by the Federal Government, one<br />
of the demands of ASUU, gathers<br />
dust, guided information reveals<br />
high scale misappropriation. The<br />
President had raised the issue of corruption<br />
in the universities while addressing<br />
ASUU in August, but the<br />
riposte from the union raises doubt<br />
as to who is responsible. Since<br />
ASUU dared government to release<br />
the report and prosecute the bad<br />
eggs, the dial back from government<br />
raises further questions. Nigeria is a<br />
mystery, true! On the other hand,<br />
there is hushed allegation that for<br />
every one naira released to the universities<br />
as earned allowances,10<br />
percent goes to ASUU as a booty for<br />
the struggle! Allegations and<br />
counter allegations confront each<br />
other. And the decay in the system<br />
doubles down.<br />
Anyway, back to Ngige's role as a<br />
provocation in the ASUU crisis. Did<br />
he go beyond the bounds of the law<br />
to chastise the union in his capacity<br />
as the competent authority on labour<br />
matters? With ASUU on strike<br />
for eight months, rejecting all entreaties<br />
even from tripartite-plus<br />
bodies, Ngige looked inwards and<br />
front loaded the elaborate provisions<br />
of the law, tucked away in a country<br />
of laissez-faire to ‘chastise’ the union.<br />
Ngige simply scraped around the<br />
recess of labour laws to resolve<br />
the phenomenon that is doomscrolling<br />
the university environment<br />
and desensitising ASUU to the torturing<br />
negativities of strikes. He simply<br />
said No to building a Potemkin<br />
that succumbs to perennial strikes.<br />
This is what must have disunited<br />
Ngige who used to tug the heartstrings<br />
of ASUU members. Now, the<br />
laws. Did you know that education<br />
is classified as an essential service<br />
for which a strike requires 15 days'<br />
notice under Section 7 of the Trade<br />
Disputes Act, Cap. 9? Available<br />
records only recall ASUU complied<br />
last with this in 2017. And to keep<br />
circumventing this, ASUU claims its<br />
strikes are roll-overs, which in the<br />
purview of the above section has no<br />
basis as strike has no other qualifier<br />
than being a strike.<br />
The similar interpretation of Section<br />
17 of the Trade Disputes Act, Cap.<br />
T8, makes ASUU accuse the Minister<br />
of Labour of taking the union to<br />
court, whereas transmitting a dispute<br />
to the National Industrial Court<br />
is the next stage in a collapsed conciliation<br />
process. Before further insight<br />
into section 17, let’s upload section<br />
18 which provides that once any<br />
union fails to settle dispute with its<br />
employer and goes on strike, the<br />
Minister, acting under the section,<br />
apprehends the action by convening<br />
conciliation for the two parties.<br />
Once apprehension is in place, the<br />
concerned union and the employer<br />
goes back to status quo antebellum.<br />
However, this is observed more in<br />
breach, otherwise, ASUU would<br />
have called off the February 14 strike<br />
on the 22nd of the same month when<br />
the Minister summoned a conciliation<br />
meeting. This section was a subject<br />
of intense discussion at the National<br />
Labour Advisory Council,<br />
which sat in Lagos on March 7, 2022.<br />
As it is, section 17 ties the hands of<br />
the Minister by providing he should,<br />
within 14 days of collapse of talks,<br />
transmit the dispute to the higher<br />
body which is either the Industrial<br />
Arbitration Panel or the National<br />
Industrial Court. That is exactly what<br />
the Minister did. In fact, he was in<br />
breach of the law by delaying the<br />
transmission from 14 days to 8<br />
months! Hence, rather than stating<br />
incorrectly that Ngige took ASUU<br />
to court, it is the union that made<br />
conciliation difficult to warrant<br />
transmission to the industrial court.<br />
Similarly, the vexed issue of no<br />
work, no pay as contained in section<br />
43 of the Trade Disputes Act has rarely<br />
been used. The present administration<br />
first invoked it on JOHESU<br />
in 2018 as well as ASUU and NARD<br />
in 2020 and 2021 respectively.<br />
Continues online:<br />
www.vanguardngr.com<br />
•Dr. Jibia is former Director of<br />
Skills and Certification, Federal<br />
Ministry of Labour and Employment<br />
and a member, National Labour<br />
Advisory Council.