How my reforms rescued organised labour from foreign influence, funding

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo stated on Wednesday that the reforms he implemented as military head of state helped rescue the labour movement from foreign funding during the height of the Cold War, a situation he said posed serious implications for the country’s sovereignty and independence.

Chief Obasanjo also revealed how he told the erstwhile labour veteran and one-time President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Hassan Sunmonu, to abuse him publicly after they met secretly, so that he would retain the confidence of labour members.

This is as the former governor of Edo State and former NLC President, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, vowed to be with labour till he dies.

Meanwhile, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, has for the umpteenth time taken a swipe at the new tax laws, saying they tax the national minimum wage, impose heavier burdens on workers and the poor, and worsen excruciating poverty in the country.

Ajaero said labour was deliberately excluded from the Presidential Committee on Tax because workers were “meant to be on the menu.”

Former President Obasanjo, Senator Oshiomhole, Comrade Joe Ajaero and others spoke at the 85th birthday celebration and public presentation of the memoir of former NLC President Hassan Sunmonu, titled Memoirs of an African Trade Union Icon: Organise, Don’t Agonise.

Chief Obasanjo recalled that two dominant labour organisations existed at the time, operating outside Nigerian control and allegedly financed by rival foreign intelligence blocs.

The former president stated that one labour group was linked to funding from the Soviet Union’s KGB, while the other received support from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, CIA.

Obasanjo said this reality prompted him, during his tenure as military head of state, to push for comprehensive reforms aimed at establishing a labour movement that would be wholly Nigerian in structure, leadership and funding.

He said: “As far as you remember, when Goodluck was leading one of the two major labour groups then, Adebola—these two labour organisations were Nigerian labour organisations, but they were not organised or funded by Nigeria.

“I don’t know if you know that, but that was the reality. One was being financed by the KGB—that is the truth—and the other one was being financed by the CIA—that was the truth—and then I came on the scene.

“I needed a Nigerian labour union organised by Nigeria, controlled by Nigeria, financed by Nigeria. So I decided there was going to be a labour union reform, and I think the man I put in charge was Justice Adebiyi. Hassan was one of those at the forefront asking, ‘What do I know about labour that I’m asking for reform? What is my business?’”

Obasanjo explained that the labour reform process, led by Justice Adebiyi, culminated in the restructuring of trade unions and the enactment of laws that gave birth to the NLC.

Text except hedline courtesy of Vanguard