•Pro-democracy activists’ mistake, cause of Nigeria’s woes
Abia Onyike, former Deputy National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State was a frontline student activist in the mid ‘80s as an undergraduate of the University of Calabar. He was an active member of the pro-democracy movement in the 1990s. He was also a founding member of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), the Campaign for Democracy (CD) and the Democratic Alternative (DA). He spoke to MAGNUS EZE on the state of the nation, leadership of NLC and Labour movement and press freedom in Nigeria today.
Nigeria seems at a crossroads today. What do you think could be done to reverse the trend?
First of all, let us start from things we can control if we claim to be a sovereign nation. There should be an immediate reversal to the removal of petroleum subsidy. It is an economic policy that has brought about massive starvation of the citizenry. It is extremely artificial in nature and very inhuman. No nation in the world toys with the wellbeing of its citizens. Governments all over the world thrive on the provision of subsidies. Even the European nations are constantly reworking their policies to accommodate more subsidies to make life liveable for their citizens, even in the face of the Russia-Ukraine war.
To impose this kind of abrupt and terrible policy on Nigerians by President Tinubu on the day he was sworn in was very suspicious. He acted not in our national interest. He was trying to keep to his obligations to international finance capital. And it was done in a way in which the Nigerian people had it imposed on them from outside because our National Assembly could not even be allowed to debate it. It was a fast game but it is becoming disastrous and the reverberations are going to be more severe in the spread of poverty and economic slavery which is difficult to come to terms with. The way to go about the problem of economic liquidity for the government is not to pass the burden on the citizens directly.
There should be a committee or commission on recovery of looted funds. The Federal Government should hold politicians and former governors who looted the public treasury to recover the looted funds and the funds must be transparently managed and accounted for. The commission should have representatives of the Labour Movement and Civil Society Organizations. That is a sure way to stop the re-looting of recovered funds.
Economic neo-liberalism has failed woefully in Nigeria. The various governments have been used to wage a war against the Nigerian people. Look at how they destroyed the naira. Now, the exchange rate was about one dollar to N1,500 or more. This is an indirect way of selling Nigeria into captivity and slavery in the hands of the North Atlantic European powers. Instead of defending Nigerian sovereignty, the leaders undermine it ceaselessly at every turn. Look at an independent country where the rulers are proud to advertise themselves as being always ready to mortgage the interests of their people in the global arena for their self-aggrandizement. These people are on a jamboree of sorts. Ordinary Nigerians cannot afford basic medical care and if they are struck by any serious ailment, they resort to begging on radio and television to raise funds for their treatment. Now, you come to add to their burden by embarking on crude economic policies to animalize the citizenry. This is horrible. President Tinubu must sit up now.
Secondly, Tinubu should use his first anniversary in May/June, 2024 to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to reconcile Nigerians. Let us meet and talk, re-engage and take a clean break from our ugly past and forge ahead. President Tinubu used to work with the civil society and was in NADECO during the struggle to revalidate the annulled June 12 election won by late Chief MKO Abiola. He should purge himself of his latter day alliances with extreme right-wing groups and irredentist elements so as to steer the ship of state along a popular-democratic programme. It is unfortunate that old alliances are broken in Nigerian politics and political success is viewed as personal victory. Otherwise, I would like to see someone like Femi Falana as Attorney-General of the Federation under Tinubu. Even Abacha appointed Olu Onagoruwa as his AG.
Let Tinubu re-jig his Economic Management Team by bringing on board some patriotic economists who are committed to indigenous blueprint for national development. Let us begin to see people-oriented reforms in the realm of political economy. The Federal Government can do something to restore and give the third tier of government a strong footing. The autonomy of the councils should be given back to council authorities to enable them restore normal life in the rural areas. That would also help to checkmate violent crimes and terrorism in the hinterland communities. Absence of government and governance in the rural areas contributed to the current collapse of law and order in the rural communities of Nigeria.
The NLC has remained the conscience of the system, most times pushing the desires of the common man. But it seems Nigerians are losing confidence in the NLC and Labour Movement?
Yes, that is correct. The Nigerian Labour Movement is the major instrument for popular democracy in Nigeria. Even during the struggle for independence, the trade union movement played a leading role in the anti-colonial struggle. During the fight against military dictatorship, it was the Nigerian Labour Movement that acted as the spring board to flush out the military dictators. They went into alliances with civil society organisations such as NADECO, Campaign for Democracy (CD), the Democratic Alternative (DA), ASUU and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) etcetera. Even under the current situation, the Labour movement is still the most potent and viable opposition force that can challenge the civilian dictatorship in Nigeria today. So, if you say that the Nigerian people have lost confidence in the Nigeria Labour Congress or the Labour movement as a whole, you are introducing another issue or political trend altogether. The decline in people’s power in Nigerian politics cannot be blamed on the labour movement alone. It is something that developed after the return to civil rule way back in 1999. The way and manner the departing military dictators handled the transition programme threw up many dangerous tendencies which were injurious to democratic governance. The emergence of Gen Olusegun Obasanjo was a terrible blow to the popular democratic coalition that fought against the military. Later on, it became clear that there was a serious decline or retreat of people’s power, which resulted from two main reasons. One was that there was a reversal of roles. The Labour and pro-democracy movement was essentially led and dominated by the South-West and Obasanjo’s presidency sort of whittled down on the essence and momentum of the movement for obvious reasons. Secondly, the students’ movement, which used to be at the core of the coalition of forces for the labour-civil society alliance, evaporated or became bastardised. The situation worsened in 2015 when former President Muhammadu Buhari took office. His brutal dictatorship and extremist ethnic triumphalism posed new problems for Nigeria. It led to the emergence of the self-determination groups fighting for the rights of the ethnic nationalities and raised it to the front burner. Even the current Tinubu government has not shown that it can act differently. There are still signs of the banner of ethnic chauvinism in the air. The labour movement thrives on strong popular democratic alliances. The generation of patriotic forces who waged these wars has split down the line. Many of our comrades followed Tinubu to the ruling party coalition in 2015, including veterans like Adams Oshiomhole, late Frank Kokori and several others. However, that is not to say that all hopes are lost.
After some decades of grandstanding by the political class, it is becoming self-evident that they are betraying the people more and more. The Labour movement will gain more relevance with time as Nigerian masses based on their collected experience of bad governance begin to push for people’s power once again. And like Wahab Goodluck used to say, when the military failed us and the civilian politicians equally failed, we shall soon realise that it would be the turn of the Labour movement to take political power in Nigeria. This is bound to happen sooner than later because the political class as presently constituted lacks the required patriotism and discipline to defend the collective interests of the Nigerian people. The present rulers know that the strongest opposition force today lies with the Labour movement and that is why they are jittery. The ruling class has succeeded in subduing all organs of democratic rule in Nigeria, starting from the manipulation of the electoral management body to the Judiciary. Now, they are struggling to see whether they can subjugate the labour movement. When you see a sitting government going to obtain court orders to stop the labour movement from organizing strikes or peaceful protests, then you don’t need to be told that fascism is around the corner. And that practice was not even common under military rule. But the civilian rulers under the so-called democracy have stepped up to destroy all the core elements of popular democracy. They attack and manipulate elections, they try to emasculate the judicial organ of government. They also try to control Parliament and then make efforts to abridge peaceful protests. These are signs of totalitarian rule making our democratic rule laughable.
President of NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero is in the eye of the storm, from the harassment in Owerri to the debacle in the Labour Party office. What do you think is wrong?
Comrade Joe Ajaero has been around for some time. He is one of the best products of the labour/pro-democracy movement in Nigeria today. I met him for the first time in 1989 in Owerri when Dr Alofoje Unuigboje, then Chairman of FUTO branch of ASUU, was sacked by the authorities of that institution. We all were in court on 21st July, 1989 when Justice Ukatta at Owerri High Court delivered judgement ordering the University to reinstate Prof Unuigboje. His lawyer was Tanko Ahmed who came from Alao Aka Bashorun Chambers in Lagos. As a radical student activist at the University of Nigeria, Ajaero was in the tick of the efforts made to form the Labour Party in 1989 and was with us at the workshop organised in Calabar by the Nigeria Labour Congress under the leadership of Paschal Bafyau. Other veterans at the conference were SG Ikoku, Dr Edwin Madunagu, Prof Eskor Toyo, Prof Uzodinma Nwala, Bassey Ekpo Bassey, Ogmore Kanu, Biko Agozino etcetera
Take note that he spent nearly ten years in Vanguard newspaper as Labour Reporter and Deputy Editor, Labour matters. Then 2001, the then General Secretary of Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Precious Kirikalio invited him to join him as Head of Information of NUEE. When Kirikalio retired, he became the Acting Gen Secretary of NUEE. He later occupied the position in its substantive capacity. He was to become the Deputy President of the NLC. He also led one of the labour centres, the United Labour Congress (ULC) before emerging as NLC President in early 2023.
I went to this extent to make you realise that Ajaero has been part of the best cadres in the trade union movement and he was well groomed and properly equipped with the necessary ideological anchor and relevant exposure to lead the movement at this point in time.
It was at the Calabar Conference that Nwala’s pamphlet, “A Workers Party or A Popular Democratic Front: Which Way for the Nigerian Left?” was adopted as a working document. It was from that document that Campaign for Democracy was formed in 1993 with Dr Beko Ransome Kuti as the President. Then later on when some misunderstanding arose, we went to Benin to form the Democratic Alternative (DA) led by Alao Aka Bashorun as President and Chima Ubani as General Secretary.
The recent harassment and brutalisation of Comrade Ajaero in Owerri was the application of a crude tactics to stop the NLC from championing the cause of the oppressed people of Nigeria by a right-wing government which had plunged Nigeria into a terrible economic mess on account of its bankrupt policies. It was alleged that the plot against Ajaero came from the centre but the Imo Government just put up itself as a willing tool in the hands of the federal authorities. It was the height of absurdity in labour-government relations in Nigeria. It painted the Tinubu administration in very bad light.
As for the debacle in the Labour Party office, I would say that the Labour movement is undergoing a transition to enable it consolidate and assume its historic role as the last hope of the common man in Nigeria. It must re-strategize to come out stronger than before. But take it that the NLC is the owner of the Labour Party and not the other way round.
Is the Government reacting well to NLC demands?
Well, I am not in a position to make the assessment but looking at the scenario generally, it would seem to me that the government believes in a fire brigade approach. They will not take their time to implement agreements reached with labour leaders. But whenever the workers threaten to go on strike, you will see everyone trying to rally round, pretending to be serious. To me, the relationship between the labour movement and the government (any government for that matter) is a paradox. It only takes diplomacy and effective negotiations to arrive at a common ground. President Tinubu was a NADECO chieftain during the 1990s but I cannot say much about his sympathies for the labour movement. NADECO was a very wide coalition involving many strange bedfellows. The common aspiration then was opposition to military rule. He made history as one of the senators who reconvened the Senate in November, 1993 after the Sani Abacha coup which ousted the Interim National Government headed by Ernest Shonekan. Tinubu, alongside other brave senators like Onyekachi Okorafor, Polycarp Nwitte, Ameh Ebute etcetera forced themselves into the Chambers. They were arrested and charged to court. Their lawyer was Femi Falana.
The hardship in Nigeria is unprecedented and the situation is not improving. Don’t you think that there is a correlation between the current economic hardship in the country and the growing crime rate and kidnappings by extremists in the country?
The hardship cannot go away until President Tinubu restores the petroleum subsidy he removed without consulting the Nigerian Parliament. Of course, the biting starvation is already impacting negatively on the behaviour of people. Poverty has become more widespread and all kinds of people are boxed into a corner. People resort to self-help to survive. It is like a civil war. Crime, violence and terrorism are bound to increase because when you remove subsidy the way they did, it shows that government is running away from its responsibility. The best way to fight crime in society is to run a decent economy where the youths are gainfully employed. But when, in the midst of mass unemployment you wilfully introduce an economic policy that promotes mass starvation, then rest assured that the socio-economic outcome is bound to be catastrophic. The social eruption would certainly be volcanic in nature.
What do you think can be done to resolve the crises of insecurity and rising crime rate?
There must be immediate social, political and economic reforms to address the problem of hunger in the land, not through meaningless palliatives which are avenues for continuous looting by the ruling class. Develop an economic blueprint to make Nigeria look inwards in its development programme. What we are doing presently is chaotic. Create a platform for national dialogue. There should be a wakeup call. Otherwise, with the way things are going, Nigeria looks like an ungoverned space. Anarchy is looming.
What is your reaction to the efforts by the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution?
Well, the National Assembly can make amendments to some sections of the Constitution but there will always be “no go areas.” But what Nigerians have been crying for is a people’s constitution that would guarantee Regional Autonomy to the federating units. The idea of a monolithic federation is not workable in Nigeria. And it makes nonsense of our democracy. The 1999 Constitution promotes the conquest agenda of one or two ethnic nationalities in Nigeria. That is the document prepared by the Military-Bureaucratic Oligarchy which ruled Nigeria from 1966 to 1999. In so far as that constitution remains operational, the Nigerian people will remain slaves in their own country. No number of amendments by the National Assembly can reverse the ugly trend. The National Assembly can amend constitutions but the business of making a new constitution lies with the Nigerian people themselves who have the sovereign powers to make their own constitution. The National Assembly was elected to make laws for the good governance of Nigeria. They were not elected to make a constitution. The Constitution is the grundnorm.
As a former NUJ leader, what can you say about the state of the Nigerian Press, press freedom and the NUJ?
Nigeria is one of the few African countries with an extensive and vibrant media landscape. The Nigerian Press has had its fair share of very high performance and times of low rating in terms of press freedom because of government interference, poor remuneration for journalists and outright suppression of news/journalists. In 2022, Nigeria was rated No.129 out of 180 countries worldwide in the World Press Freedom Index. Then in 2023, Nigeria moved up slightly by 6 points to 123 out of 180 countries. But Ghana ranked 62, Burkina Faso, led by a military junta 58, and Niger, 61. So, the summary is that “Nigeria is one of West Africa’s most dangerous and most difficult countries for journalists to operate. Journalists in Nigeria are said to be often monitored, attacked and arbitrarily arrested. Recently, a court order was required to stop the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from imposing fines on broadcast outfits and threatening them with seizure of licences. Then on 3rd May, 2023, the African Media Development Foundation (AMDF) reported that Nigeria has the highest cases of recorded violations and infractions of press freedom in Africa. The report also highlighted the difficulties faced by Nigerian journalists in the coverage of the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria. Then again, some Nigerian journalists are fond of self-censorship. They have to stop that and focus on their commitment to social responsibility so as to hold the government accountable to the people. These are the challenges. On the Nigerian Press Organisation, I should say that I have observed that the Nigerian Guild of Editors is doing very fine. It is fast replacing the NUJ as the spokesperson of the NPO. That doesn’t mean NUJ is not doing well. They are all working and cooperating effectively