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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.

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