Organised labour under the aegis of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has submitted that the political class and not ethnicity constitutes the greatest threat to Nigeria’s existence as one indivisible entity.
The congress also posited that only good governance could end the continued ethnic agitations and cries of marginalisation across ethnic divides, just as it urged youths and those fanning the embers of war to sheath their swords and embrace one Nigeria.
The congress’ position was declared by Ayuba Wabba, president, NLC, at a news conference on the state of the nation, in Abuja, on Thursday.
“Our common enemy, and whom we must all resolve to face, remains the corrupt political class, who instead of utilising the God-endowed wealth of our nation, choose to loot it for themselves and their children thereby depriving us of decent living and inflicting on us a scarred collective psychology that is predominantly negative, hostile and unproductive.
“We therefore call on all committed patriots, young and old, to join the struggle against the myriad of social and economic injustices that occasioned the deprivations, which have set our people in dangerous agitations against one another in the social, print and electronic media,” said Wabba.
The NLC, however, cautioned against the resort to war mongering and jingoism by agitating youths across ethnic divides, warning that it was an ill wind that would blow no one any good.
“You have been witnesses to the degeneration of the national conversation into threats and counter-threats; of pulling down the federation by disparate and desperate forces, all of which were conveyed in vile and base language.
“These persistent hot exchanges and attacks tend to threaten the very foundation and integrity of our sovereignty and unity; and therefore do not represent the true feelings of patriotic Nigerians for one another.
“Rather, they symbolise the intensity of greed, the implacable arrogance and desperation of the elites, some of whom have been funding or sponsoring the hate campaigns that can only lead to the disintegration of our dear nation. We speak out today as a pan-Nigeria organisation that believes in the sovereignty and indissolubility of one Nigeria,” he said.
According to Wabba, physical conflict will hurt everyone especially workers, pensioners and their families who will be the most direct and immediate casualties of any war, stressing that dialogue remains the most tested and result-oriented form of conflict resolution mechanism and should be given full rein.
“Those fanning the embers of disunity need to be discouraged and schooled on the realities of war. In the same vein, we appeal to all parts of Nigeria, and indeed, all Nigerians not to fall cheaply for the glamorisation of conflict or war, as a solution to our self-inflicted crisis.
“We urge all Nigerians to stand up with one voice and fight those promoting division on the basis of primordial affinity. They do it not for the good of the community but for their vested interests,” he said.
The congress, however, acknowledged that in the course of consummating the Nigerian union, there may have been genuine basis for dissatisfaction and disaffection, but added that Nigeria was not alone in this kind of problem.
“There is no perfect political union anywhere under the sun. We know not of any nation that is perfectly happy with itself as conflict remains an indisputable reality of human existence.”
“Many of our men and women of conscience and goodwill have in the short period of the current altercation pointed to some of the fundamental social and economic challenges of our society. We strongly believe that we should be paying attention to these problems by developing the capacity to address them instead of falling into the self-inflicted trap of stereotyping one another as enemies, and debasing our common humanity by casting and shrinking ourselves into primitive shades,” he said further.
JOSHUA BASSEY
