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Akintola Benson Oke
AS is well known, every 1st of May, Nigerian workers join working people all over the World to celebrate May Day, otherwise called, Workers’ Day. This year, organized labour in Nigeria has chosen the theme, “Another 100 Years of Jobs, Dignity and Social justice in Nigeria.”I fully identify with organized labour and I am confident that the movement will continue to be champions of jobs, dignity and social justice for the foreseeable future.
As the Governor of Lagos State will undoubtedly demonstrate in his speech, we worked closely with union leaders in a way that has never been experimented with before, such that we had the advantage of directly feeling the pulse of workers on all major issues.It has indeed been a pleasure to serve the workers of Lagos State under the able and passionate leadership of the Governor of Lagos State.
The struggles of the labour movement in Nigeria in times past have indeed been notable and commendable. On our part, we laboured all through our stewardship at the Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions to preserve and elevate the jobs in the Lagos State Public Service by embarking on, and implementing, anextensive training programme for the officers of the service. Other agencies of the Lagos State Government implemented policies that resulted in the creation of jobs for the youths in our state.
We did all these in appreciation of the importance of jobs at the social and macro-economic levels. As has been famously noted, the top priority of government has to be the stimulation of jobs and growth. This is because jobs are central to economic growth and political stability. As long as people are busy with their work and are able to provide for themselves, their morale is high, and things are stable. Jobs create earnings, which creates demand, which in turn creates production and investment and hence more jobs. It is a virtuous cycle. It does make sense to build random infrastructure even if just to employ people. It may not make sense in isolation but at the macro level it makes a lot of sense. We also dignified labour by appreciating and rewarding it appropriately. We proceeded, agreeing with John Carmackthat,“hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”Under the leadership of the Governor of Lagos State, everyone who turned up for service was dignified with appropriate appreciation and rewards in form of competitive, timely salaries and faithful pension contributions.
As a social commentator noted, “when you look at our society, you see variety of work. Some are employed in government establishments: Civil Service or Public Corporation; some are employed in private sectors; some are self-employed; there are others who are unemployed. Wherever one works, the principle of dignity of labour, laborare dignitatem, implies that whatever one does that feeds and enables him to be clothed should be respected and not degraded or treated with contempt.
To respect a particular job implies that the worker should approach his work with all sense of responsibility and diligence. In return, the job should be able to offer him a reward (salary) that will enable him live as a human being. This is the spirit of Pope Leo’s encyclical entitled: Rerum Novarum (‘Of New Things’), where he submitted that ‘Equity commands that public authority show proper concern for the workers so that from what he may receive will enable him to be housed, clothed and secured, to live his life without hardship.’
The third arm of this year’s May Day theme is also a driving force of the policies that the Governor of Lagos State charged us to implement over the last four years. I am delighted that the labour movement in Nigeria is looking forward to the next 100 years with focus on values including social justice. As a concept, it has been noted that social justice refers to the just relations between the individual and society. This is measured by the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges. In Western as well as in older Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive what was their due from society. In the current global grassroots movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets and economic justice.
I therefore join the labour movement in Nigeria in looking forward to a future where the struggle is focused on uplifting and rewarding values such as social justice. In the last four years, the Lagos State Government has made extensive investments to make access easier and wider for the most disadvantaged people in our state. I counsel organisedlabour to continue on this path.
As organized labour pursues these lofty objectives, permit me to emphasise that the struggle of the next 100 years will require team work and synergy with the government. It is of utmost importance that stakeholders should commit to the promotion of the indispensable value of team work in labour and government relations. The machinery of organized labour for the attainment of its objectives will become more effective and efficient if all stakeholders rededicate to the values of team work and collaboration. Success in today’s world necessarily calls for people who play well with others and can effectively work as part of a team. According to Lyne Sarikas, the MBA Career Center Director at Northeastern University, “That means sometimes being a leader, sometimes being a good follower, monitoring the progress, meeting deadlines and working with others across the organization to achieve a common goal.” Therefore, let us always remember that the government and the unions are ultimately on the same team.
Organised labour will also be well-served to bear in mind that social dialogue is recognized by the International Labour Organisation to include all types of negotiations, consultations or simply exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest relating to economic and social policy. It can exist as a tripartite process, with the government as an official party to the dialogue or it may consist of bipartite relations only between labour and management (or trade unions and employers’ organizations), with or without indirect government involvement. In the case of the Lagos State Government throughout the last four years, we implemented an even superior model where there was government involvement at the highest level.
Of course, the main goal of social dialogue itself is to promote consensus building and democratic involvement among the main stakeholders. Furthermore, successful social dialogue structures and processes have the potential to resolve important economic and social issues, encourage good governance, advance social and industrial peace and stability and boost economic progress. Indeed, the experience of the Lagos State Public Service since the assumption of office by the Governor of Lagos State is a testament to the effectiveness of the type of social dialogue that I now advocate.
Finally, let us all remain conscious that we are a part of history. It has been well over a hundred years since the celebration of the first May Day in Chicago, USA. Since then, the labour movement has dramatically transformed the relationship among the factors of production and especially the relationship between labour and the owners of capital. Unlike the state of affairs depicted in Jack London’s book, The Iron Heel, enlightened nations and owners of capital now better appreciate and reward the prime, indispensable and invaluable role of labour in the grand scheme of wealth production.
I am proud to count the Lagos State Government as one of such enlightened owners of capital and employer of labour to whom the welfare, remuneration, comfort and continuing education and training of labour is of utmost importance. It is on this note, therefore, that I am delighted to felicitate with all workers in Lagos State and the organised labour unions on the occasion of the celebration of the 2019 May Day.
Oke, Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, Training and Pensions
