By SULEIMAN DANGANA

With the formation of the transport union in Nigeria, otherwise refer to as the National Union of Road Transport Workers – NURTW in 1978, the union was listed as an an affiliate of the central labour organization – the Nigeria Labour Congress in 1978.

The instrument making that possible was initiated as a result of the restructuring   of industrial Unions by the then military administration vide a Trade Union Decree now Act of 21& 22 of 15th August , 1978 and Trade Unions ( miscellaneous provision decree 17 of July, 1986).

Since then the NURTWU has not embarked on any form of training for its members. Consequently, members were ill informed even about their duties and obligations to the union..

However, the present leadership of the union has taken steps to give formal education to members of the union , with the expectation that they will not only be informed but will be accorded their due respect by members of the public and other stakeholders in the transport.

The union according to authoritative sources has membership strength of over 1.5 million working in various part of the country .

The Act establishing the union provides that all professional commercial drivers with the exception of petroleum   tanker drivers are all members of the NURTW. Members of the union are quite visible in all the local governments in the country.

The national president of the union, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin   has said that his priority to “ promote the economic welfare of members, participate in programmes on road safety and the mass transit implementation”.

Besides, he promised that his leadership will promote “, civil – military relations, peaceful , credible and violence- free elections and road accident health insurance – a scheme that provides First Aid and Insurance to accident victims “.

2015 Elections:

With campaign for the   2015 election set commence soon, the NURTWU has warned its members to stay away from politics. Against the backdrop of allegations that union members have become tools in the hands of politicians for settling political scores, the national president of the union, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin said members are free to exercise their voting rights to vote for candidates of their choice but that anyone who wants to be voted for “ must resign his or her appointment with the union”.

Training programme

The NURTW President spoke of plans to send   members   of the union to train in Leadership and Industrial relations at the International Transport Workers Federation   (ITF   ) in Kenya.

According to him, “such training would bring about global experience and exposure on the worker who before now never had such training”.

The ITF would also provide an   opportunity for union members   to improve themselves in the leadership qualities and other multi daily challenges . The ITF as a federation of   international transport workers supports   all workers in the transport sector   across the globe.

The NURTW has been collaborating with the ITF in the last three decades promoting   respect for trade union rights, human rights, justice and economic progress   worldwide.

Membership data

The NURTWU has commissioned a Biometrics enabled national database identity card to properly identify its members . This the union’s president , Alhaji Yasin and the General Secretary, Mr. Clement Wetkur explained would enable the union determine the exact numberical strength of the union.

… Suleiman Dangana is an Abuja based journalist