Why Jonathan's Government Wants to Divide Labour

Following its opposition to plans to remove fuel subsidy as from January next year, the Goodluck Jonathan-led federal government has begun discreet moves to divide the ranks of organised labour. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), AbdulWaheed Omar, who disclosed this in an exclusive interview in Abuja, further stated that...

“We suspect that the government is trying to divide us.” The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Emeka Wogu, had on Thursday separately called 15 labour unions for a meeting on the removal of fuel subsidy without following established procedure. Many of the unions however, boycotted the parley.

Despite government apparent manoeuvres, Omar said he was satisfied that the labour unions were still united. In his words: “We have always been working together and will continue to work with the TUC, NUPENG, PENGASSAN and others. This issue is not about labour; it is about the general well-being of all Nigerians.”

Also, the Secretary-General, Trade Union Congress, Chief John Kolawole, said none of its affiliate unions attended the Thursday meeting, stressing that they were suspicious of government’s intentions.  But Wogu on Saturday scoffed at the insinuation that government was out to emasculate the labour unions.

Omar, however, said government’s separate invitations to labour unions without complying with the standard practice of passing through their umbrella bodies were an apparent attempt to weaken organised labour’s resolve against the policy.

According to him, the standard procedure is to reach the labour groups through the NLC and the Trade Union Congress. Omar said, “The Minister of Labour and Productivity has called individual unions to a meeting. It is surprising; we suspect that the government is trying to divide us, but we are on ground. Our position is that we are opposed to subsidy removal. We will continue to oppose it. The normal thing is to pass through the labour centres but they are going through the unions, which is strange.”

However, Kolawole said, “The TUC decided to boycott the meeting because of the suspicious manner in which it was called.  He said, “We are thinking the minister wants to divide our ranks for agenda they want to force through; we were surprised and you can see that the end of the meeting portrayed exactly what we had suspected and we were right.”

But the minister on Saturday dismissed labour’s allegation that government was trying to divide its ranks. He explained that the session was meant to gather information from the unions.

It would be recalled that since the unveiling of a new economic blueprint for the country, which removed fuel subsidy beginning next year, a groundswell of opposition had greeted the policy.

Additional reports by ThePunch.