By Funmi Komolafe

In the trade union movement, Peters Adeyemi is a name that rings  a bell. Officially, he is the General Secretary of the Non- Academic Staff Union of  Educational And  Associated Institutions, NASU,  and until 20011, a  Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC . He served in that capacity from  2007 to 2011. At the international  level, he is serving the Public Services International based in France as the President for Africa and the Vice- President, International.

In the last two years, his union has challenged the leadership of the NLC , a move that led the union to withdraw from  NLC. Why did the union take this step? This and other issues were raised in this  interview with  Comrade Peters Adeyemi in his Lagos office.

GOVERNMENT is talking about labour reform.  Do you think labour needs a reform , if so, in which areas?

I am a little bit skeptical when government talks about labour reform . One wants to find out the basis for the reform . You also want to know the criteria to be used. You also want to find out what is motivating government in this direction. Is it for political interest or an attempt to hijack the labour movement?

I think labour has the responsibility of reforming itself rather than surrender itself to  government for reform.  So, my opinion is that,  government appears to be chewing more than it ought to chew, more than what its mouth can actually contain. Government appears to be putting its nose and its mouth virtually everywhere. They are talking of reform everywhere but there is no positivity in  all these attempts to reform everything.

Reforming the economy

They are reforming the economy, reforming every area, now they want to reform labour.  I have a little bit of problem with that but I am convinced that there is the need for organized labour itself to do self purification. There is need for self examination. There is the  need for labour to readjust, to reform itself with a view to reposition itself for effective and efficient service delivery  to the rank and file members of the  union who have no other hope than the trade union movement.

*Adeyemi

I have my doubts whether  the labour movement in this country to which I belong, is able to justify the huge  expectation of not  only the working people of this country but also  those who rely on the ability of the Nigerian labour movement to deliver them  from the oppressive  tendencies and policies  of those in government because in this country   we realize that  opposition  has been virtually non –existent and over  time, labour has filled that gap adequately.

The Nigerian people  have so   much  confidence in the labour movement  but in the last couple of  years , we have seen that that confidence has waned .  If you then  look at that situation, you  may come to the conclusion that there is need for self-examination, self  purification and the need for labour to restructure itself   so that it would be able to meet the yearnings and aspirations  of the Nigerian people.
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We can’t have this interview without talking about  your union’s relationship with the  NLC.  Your union has been out of the NLC now for over two years, are you being offered an olive branch? Are there reconciliation moves?

No.  The answer is absolutely no. In fact we were aggrieved as a union because we were unjustly treated. Our position has been clearly explained  to all and sundry.  As at the time NLC went for that election in 2011, we were the third highest due paying   affiliate of the NLC.

We had Nigeria Union of Teachers ( NUT) as number one, we  had Medical and Health Workers Union as number two and NASU was number  three and we believe that for fairness, if you return the NUT man   who never performed to   any level,  they returned him for a second tenure.

They returned the Medical and Health  Workers Union  man  unopposed,  they  have  no reason  not to return the NASU man unopposed because if that regime had failed , then everybody should be disqualified.  So, anything that qualifies the head of that team to return, qualifies at least   the first three   who   sustain the NLC so much. .

So,   we said it is clear injustice.  I cannot see how my  union that pays five million Naira per month,  N60 million per annum would be so badly treated. So, it’s a matter of right that those who perpectuated this act of act of injustice, must repent because the truth of the matter is that the labour movement is about fighting injustice . So, if we now have a house that is supposed to be fighting injustice now perpectuating injustice, then of course, we cannot belong to that house.

That was why during our conference of November 2011, delegates said no if they would not do anything to remedy the situation, then we should move out of NLC and we notified them. They never considered it necessary to even acknowledge receipt of our conference resolution.

The conference resolution was simple, it was stated that if NLC persists in its acts of not showing solidarity with NASU , in its act of humiliation, act of ganging up against NASU, we should move out of the place. We expected the NLC to take some action but they didn’t.

After about a year or 18 months, we were informed that NLC constituted a reconciliation committee under the leadership of Comrade Hassan Sunmonu then executive secretary of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity ( OATUU) .

We said were not comfortable with the composition of the committee because most members of the committee were active players at the NLC congress but we were persuaded on the need for a vibrant labour centre and we think our presence in that labour centre could make the present labour centre to be more vibrant than it is now.

In our union, we made a comparative analysis between this NLC and the NLC led by Adams Oshiomhole and we said the NLC of Oshiomhole attracted so much support of Nigerians, so much applause from Nigerians to the extent that people including commercial drivers wanted to have NLC sticker on their vehicles but the situation has changed.

We felt that if we were there, we would be able to do one or two things to turn things around. We were persuaded by the likes of Comrade SOZ Ejiofoh , Comrade Stephen Osidipe that we should embrace the reconciliation committee and because of the respect our union has for these veterans of the labour movement, we decided to appear before the Sunmonu Committee.

We submitted our memorandum to them and gave us a date to return so that we can speak to those issues that were contained in our memorandum. Unfortunately, NLC decided to dissolve that Committee without informing us up to this moment.

They have not notified us. They have not told us anything but we heard from the grape vine that they said  they didn’t have any problem with NASU, but they only had problem with Comrade John Odah and that since they have now settled with John Odah , they have don’t have any business with us. So, we said, fine.