The Federal Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) appear to have intensified their face-off over the constitution of the Board of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), even as NLC on Sunday demanded that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, inaugurate the Board of the NSITF under the chairmanship of Frank Ovie Kokori before the 2019 May Day.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment had through a statement announced the replacement of Comrade Kokori with Austine Enajemo-Isere and his transfer to the Board of Michael Imodu National Institute of Labour Studies (MINLS) Ilorin, a diploma-awarding institution in Labour Relations as Chairman, which it added followed due process and has the necessary presidential approval.
“The approval for this exercise was given by the appropriate approving authority which is the President and duly communicated to the Ministry of Labour and Employment. This is also in line with the Act establishing the NSITF which confers such powers on the President on the recommendation of the Hon. Minister,” the ministry had said.
NLC however, disagreed with the Ministry’s position and mobilised its men to oppose it. NLC President Ayuba Wabba had alleged that President Muhammadu Buhari had appointed Kokori as the Chairman of Board of the NSITF but that the Minister Ngige changed the appointment.
The NLC President in a statement on Sunday demanded that Minister inaugurate the Board of the NSITF under the chairmanship of Chief Kokori before the 2019 May Day.
“If Kokori has been declared by renowned world leaders as prisoner of conscious and has been appointed by Mr President, the minister had no right to manipulate the process by changing it,” the union leader said.
“Kokori has not been informed that there is a new chairman of the board. The minister had earlier informed him that Mr President has appointed him as the chairman of board and he has undergone all necessary security screening.
“So, close to three years now, they have refused to inaugurate the board due to one reason or the other and we can see today that they do not want somebody that is transparent to manage workers money just for no reasons just to delay the process,” he said.
Wabba also accused the minister of running the NSITF board as the sole administrator adding the NLC and its allies would oppose any move to inaugurate the board secretly.
Wabba said the labour movement had shown enough patience and understanding with regard to the long delay in the inauguration of NSITF board by the ministry. He said “as a responsible working-class organisation that values the tenets of social dialogue and tripartism, we had pursued this issue tenaciously for the last three years with relevant authorities without externalising it, despite all our frustrations.”
Wabba added: “Going forward, the dropping of the name of Mr President notwithstanding, we expect Minister Ngige to inaugurate the Board of NSITF under the chairmanship of Chief Frank Ovie Kokori before the 2019 May Day.”
NLC also refuted the allegation by the ministry that it imported violent thugs to disrupt the inauguration of the board of NSITF on April 18, which led to the indefinite postponement of the inauguration.
The ministry’s statement had said that “the violent gate crashing and the illegal forceful seizure of the conference room of the Honourable Minister by thugs numbering hundreds and persons who clearly had no business with the inauguration of the board is totally unacceptable.
“Government therefore takes serious exceptions to the dishonourable actions of the NLC leadership and Chief Frank Kokori as well as his cohorts and warns that the Ministry will not tolerate a repeat of hooliganism clearly unknown to ethos of civilised unionism”.
Wabba in the statement on Sunday castigated the minister, over the allegation, adding that calling the topmost hierarchy of NLC thugs and hooligans is “irresponsible.’’
Explaining Labour’s position on the stalled inauguration of the NSITF board, Wabba said he and the President of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG), Comrade William Akporeha, led other leaders of the Labour Movement to the venue of the inauguration ceremony.
He noted that NLC had statutorily two members on the NSITF Board, which, by law, it is obligated to nominate, adding that they waited patiently for well over two hours for the commencement of the event in the presence of dozens of journalists from various national media houses including DSS operatives and the police.
“The fact that there was not even a single reported incident of breakdown of law and order, or the arrest of any person for unruly behaviour is a categorical attestation to the peaceful and calm manner in which all those who came for the occasion conducted themselves,” Wabba said.
He described the statement issued by the ministry accusing NLC of bringing thugs to disrupt the scheduled inauguration as “unbelievable barefaced lies and uncouth language.”
Wabba further accused Ngige of frustrating Labour’s efforts to get the NSITF board inaugurated in order to further consolidate his grip on the Fund.
The NLC president further alleged that the minister is “in the habit of forcing the approval of hundreds of millions of naira for dubious induction trainings, procurement and monetisation of jeeps for himself and the Minister of State in the Ministry, among other spurious expenditure.”
While it is not clear yet what actions the NLC will take in the event that the ministry did not meet the May Day deadline, the ministry has not shown any sign either that it is going to succumb to the pressure of Labour. The days ahead could be dicey.
