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The Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) at the weekend threatened to take federal lawmakers to
court if they amend parts of the electoral law to make themselves
automatic members of the National Executive Council (NEC) of political
parties.

Describing it as a
new manifestation of efforts by lawmakers to make laws in their interest
rather than in the national interest, the party’s National Publicity
Secretary, Lai Mohammed, said it was becoming clear that, as far as the
dominant PDP members of the National Assembly are concerned, the
interest of their party is the same as the interest of the nation.

The party however
called on other political parties to mount a legal challenge against
what it tagged, “the obnoxious, self-serving, greedy and
democracy-killing proposed insertion into the Electoral Act 2010.” The
party also called on labour, civil society organizations and political
parties to march on the National Assembly “to ensure such
anti-democratic law is not passed.” Mr Mohammed described the ongoing
amendment effort as the most expensive and anti people ever in Nigeria’s
history, saying it is time to stop federal lawmakers from ruining the
democracy that millions of Nigerians fought to entrench.

“Our legislators are the highest paid in the world, with those of Kenya a distant second,” he said. “Yet, they never consulted
us before padding their pay to such high levels. The widespread story
is that each of them earns a million naira per day, except on weekends
and public holidays! This is not far from the truth, since each one
smiles home with 45 million Naira per quarter, in a country where most
citizens live on less than US$1 a day, and the minimum wage being fought
for comes to US$4 per day! Add this to the fact that while it took 3%
of the national budget to service the National Assembly in the Second
Republic, the current National Assembly is gulping over 30% of the
national budget and one will get an idea of how these legislators are
draining the economy. If they dispute the figures quoted above, they
should tell Nigerians what they earn and what percentage of the national
budget is being used to service the National Assembly.”

Implications

The party said that
the proposed law offends the constitution, stifles the ability of the
parties to make their own constitutions and decide who attends their
executive councils and shows how those elected to serve the people
cannot differentiate between the interest of the PDP from the majority
in both chambers of the National Assembly, and the country.

“The proposed law will also make the lawmakers – in the case of the
PDP more than 300 National Assembly members’ gate crashing into the NEC
– the single biggest bloc in the NECs of the parties. Then, the
dictatorship of lawmakers would have been entrenched, with dangerous
consequences for all,” Mr. Mohammed said.

As part of his many
duties, a conductor is expected to be a mobile map, a regular GPRS. He
must know where all the checkpoints are; the places where the police,
LASTMA, road safety and VIO officials are stationed. And when they
move, which they do often enough, he must find out where they have gone
and constantly update the driver who must then avoid such routes.

Yesterday, as soon
as we left Iyana-oworo for the Ogudu road we were stopped by the police
and the driver was livid – not at the police, but at the incompetence
of his conductor. “You are a fool,” he said. “Didn’t you tell me this
road was free?” And he proceeded to call the youth a string of
unpalatable names.

“But they are not
supposed to be here today,” the conductor said. This excuse enraged the
driver further. “So why are they here? Idiot, I am asking you why are
they here then?”

“Driver, I beg look
where you are going,” said a passenger beside him as the bus almost hit
a curb. As the driver turned to face the road however, the conductor
gave us a broad smile and made a face to indicate that the driver had
smoked something. Some passengers chuckled, there had been something
excessive about the drivers’ rant.

Unfortunately, the
driver caught the exchange in his rear view mirror. “Is it your father
that you are talking about back there?” he asked the conductor. “Your
father must have been a great fool to give birth to an idiot like you.
Oloshi.”

The conductor, who
seemed to have cared about his father some, stopped taking the matter
lightly. “Please stop insulting my father. The police took your money,
my father is dead let him rest in peace.”

“Well that is good
to hear,” said the driver. “It is good that YOUR FATHER IS NOT ALIVE TO
SEE THE IDIOT YOU HAVE BECOME.” The conducted seethed but said nothing.

As we rounded the
bend, we came upon the Ojota roundabout and a policewoman suddenly
stepped onto the road, barring movement. I felt some sympathy for the
driver: it was obviously not his day.

Yet, when I looked
at him, he was smiling. “Aaah,” he said to the woman in obvious banter,
“You want them to say I killed my own wife? Stop doing dangerous things
like that.” But the woman was in no mood for play. She just stood
there, her face black as night. “Ok, let me go and I will see you when
I come back,” the driver said. The woman said she would do no such
thing. “You think I be fool? That was what you said yesterday and I
didn’t see you again.”

There was no
getting past her so the driver forked out the N50, and the policewoman
smiled for the first time. And what a beautiful smile. But the episode
seemed to have disturbed a middle-aged woman sitting at the back of the
bus.

“This kind of thing is not good for a woman,” she said. “They should let the men collect the bribes. It is better that way.”

“Spoken like a true
woman,” said a man in thick glasses. “So as usual men should do the
dirty work while women enjoy the money. Is that what you are saying?”

“But look at it
now,” said the woman, “She is so young. Who will marry a woman like
that? Some things should be done by men is what am saying.”

“The women are more wicked o,” said the conductor. “They don’t like to show mercy.”

“Shut up,” shouted the driver. “People are talking and the fool is
also talking. If you do your job we won’t need to give all our profits
to these people, men or women!”

Isaiah Adewale is a
46-year-old ,part-time commercial motorcyclist, part-time bricklayer
who can barely cater for his wife and four children. He suffers from
vitiligo, a disease causing depigmentation of the skin; and as a result
he hardly gets customers to make a living.

But Mr. Adewale is
a millionaire-in-waiting, having being awarded N10 million by Deborah
Oluwayemi,a Lagos State High Court judge, “for the humiliation, pains,
inconvenience,injury, loss and damages” he suffered when Police
officers attached to the Ojodu Police Station unlawfully arrested,
arraigned and got him remanded at Kirikiri prison in 2006.

But four years on,
the Police has remained defiant to obey the court’s ruling of October
3, 2006. In a pathetic story of flagrant disregard to the rule of law
and constituted powers of the Judiciary, Mr. Adewale says there is no
justice for the poor in Nigeria.

“I am a poor man
and nobody listens to the poor. I have written to everybody in
government to help me get this money from the Police because I am dying
from suffering. But nothing! I can no longer get bricklaying jobs,
people don’t want to climb my Okada (commercial motorcycle) because
they are afraid I will transfer my skin problem to them,” says Mr.
Adewale.

Taking up Mr.
Adewale’s struggle,Know Your Rights International, a human rights
advocacy group, has at different periods in time written several
petition letters to the highest authorities of the police, the Ministry
of Police Affairs, the Police Service Commission, the National Human
Rights Commission, the National Judicial Council, the Nigeria Bar
Association, amongst other government establishments.

In a letter dated
January 15,2010, the then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ogbonna
Onovo, was petitioned.In response, the IG’s Principal Staff Officer
III, Greg Esele, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, wrote to the
Commissioner of Police overseeing the Legal department of the Police
Force to take necessary action. Nothing was done.

One of the few
others to respond to Mr. Adewale’s plight was the secretary of the
National Judicial Council (NJC), Danladi Halilu, who on the orders of
the Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the NJC, on March 15, 2010
said “I have been directed to inform you to channel your complaint to
the Inspector of General of Police”.

But the IGP who is
supposed to be the chief enforcer of the law has remained the greatest
offender in refusing to obey court orders, says Olusegun Adeeko, Know
Your Rights lead activist. Mr.Adeeko also petitioned the new IGP, Hafiz
Ringim, reminding him that Mr. Onovo’s removal as IG “was due to his
lip-service attitude to rule of Law and his arrogant defiance of court
orders with impunity”.

In response, Mr.
Ringim in a letter dated September 20, 2010, through Mr. Esele, still
PSO III, directed the commissioner of the Police Legal department to
again “advise accordingly”.

“This is the game
the Police are playing. Since the new IG came on board, we have written
him appeal letters because we believed he will uphold the rule of law
and put the police in the right perspective of Nigerians. But it is
months now and he is paving the line of Mr. Onovo,” says Mr. Adeeko.

At different times,
the Public Complaints Commission also tried to get the Police to obey
the court and pay monetary compensation to Mr. Adewale. On behalf of
the commissioner, one B.A.Ogunyale wrote to the IGP on August 25,2010,
to “kindly request from your good office your appropriate comment in
connection with this petition”.

Phone calls and
email messages sent to several government establishments, including the
police force headquarters, who Mr. Adewale has over the years
petitioned to come to his aid were at the time of going to press
unanswered.

“The Police don’t respond to petitions because they are above the
law. This is dangerous for democracy. I am poor but I will fight for my
rights. I will follow this matter to the end. As Nigerians we need to
wake up from our slumber and speak out because my right is your right
too,” says Mr. Adewale.

The joy of motherhood was short-lived
for Sola Morufu, who lost her child barely 24 hours after its delivery.
Three months of strike by Lagos doctors has grounded activities in
state-owned hospitals, and made Mrs. Morufu’s child a casualty.

After putting to bed at a local
maternity centre at Orimedu in Ibeju-Lekki council three months ago,
Mrs. Morufu left for Akodo, a neighbouring community, in the same
council, to stay with her mother.

Counting costs in human lives

“It was on the second day that the
child started acting somehow and started shaking, so we took her to
Ibeju-Lekki General Hospital in Akodo here, but we were rejected
because of the strike,” said the grandmother of the deceased, Joke Olu.

“It was already around 9pm and by the
time we would get to another hospital, the child had died. Me and my
daughter, we cried like a baby that night, but there was nothing we
could do about it. I felt like it was a grown up that died.”

Along with losing her first child,
22-year-old Mrs. Morufu’s life was gravely threatened, prompting her to
seek medical attention in a nearby private hospital.

“The baby was also my first
grandchild, but it was really tough for his mother after then,” said
Mrs. Olu, the grandmother. “We almost lost her too, and eventually had
to get her to a private hospital in Magbon-Segun (a neighbouring
community) where she received treatment at double what we would have
spent in a public hospital. Only God saved her life, but she has still
not fully recovered now. She really feels bad about what happened and
has not been happy since then.”

Like Mrs. Olu, Abanise Wasiu, another
resident of Akodo community, lost his uncle, Sulu Eji, five weeks ago,
an incident he believes was caused by the doctors’ strike.

He said the delay in getting timely
medical treatment for his uncle, who had slumped at a community
meeting, had cost him his life, in spite of frantic efforts made by the
relatives.

“We quickly rushed him to Ibeju-Lekki
General Hospital after he slumped, but he was still shaking. On getting
there, the doctors were still on strike. He died on the way to a
private hospital in Iberikodo (a nearby community),” he said.

Two female doctors at Ibeju-Lekki
General Hospital, who spoke under condition of anonymity, denied that
patients had been outrightly rejected at the hospital.

“Even though we are on strike, we still try to do something for them (patients), however, small,” said one of the doctors.

Resort to alternative medicine

As the impact of the strike bites
harder, with its effects on residents some of who could only manage to
get private health-care, which is relatively more expensive,
investigation has shown that many Lagos residents have resorted to
patronising hawkers of alternative (traditional) medicine, whose
activities are less regulated.

Bidemi Salako, who is registered for
anti-natal care at the Island Maternity, Lagos Island, has been getting
her care from herbalists, popularly called ‘Alagbos’ in Lagos, since
the commencement of the doctors’ strike.

“There was nothing else I could do,”
she said in Yoruba. “I was having back pains, headache and various
other complaints, but there was no doctor to complain to at the
hospital, so I told the herbalist about it, and she has been treating
me since then. I pray they call off before my time to give birth, but
if not, I will use the herbalist,” she said.

In the meantime, the 13-week-old
strike continues, with the doctors rejecting the state government’s
offer of 75 per cent implementation of CONMESS (Consolidated Medical
Salary Scale), and accusing the government of insincerity in
negotiations which started last week, about three months into the
strike.

Speaking recently in an interview with
NEXT, Ayobode Williams, Medical Guild chairman, appealed to Lagos re
sidents “to prevail on the government to acce de to the doctors’
demands”, adding that the state government should be held responsible
for th e casualties recorded during the strike.

Last Tuesday, three
and a half years after the 2007 elections, an appeal court sitting in
Benin City ruled that the 2007 governorship election in Delta state was
a sham.

Subsequently,Emmanuel
Uduaghan, who was deemed to have illegally occupied the position of the
governor of the state all along, was sent out of the government house
and the speaker of the state House of Assembly was sworn in to act as
governor pending conclusion of a rerun election, expectedly within the
next 85 days.

He thus became the
fourth governor to be sacked by the courts following the 2007 election,
usually after they have earned a lot of public money they ought not to
have had access to. Segun Oni of Ekiti state, removed only last month;
Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, removed last year and Oserheimen Osunbor
of Edo state were the other politicians in this group.

The court ruled
that they rigged their way into positions and enjoyed the privileges of
that office, including wielded powers to sign death warrant of
prisoners – or pardon convicted prisoners.

Critics say this
throws up two major challenges to the electoral system. First, the
issue of timely adjudication of election petitions by the courts, which
analysts say is currently been “haphazardly” redressed by the second
amendment to the 1999 constitution.

Secondly,the 2010 Electoral Act does not make provision for any sanction for individuals who rig themselves into office.

No offence

Although the new
electoral laws tries to fast-track electoral court cases and check
election malpractice, the electoral act does not consider rigging to
get into office an offence punishable by law.

“It is not a
criminal offence in our laws,” Charles Musa, a Lagos lawyers said .The
electoral act only takes cognisance of offence committed within the
range of registration up to voting and declaration of votes by
officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The electoral act
covers offences in relation to registration, forgery of nomination
papers, voters’ card and ballot papers, impersonation, bribery and
conspiracy, dereliction of duty, threatening, and undue influence
during and before voting day. Analysts believe these offences are
targeted on foot soldiers rather than the principals who are the
sponsors and consequential beneficiary of the offences.

“The issue of
holding offices illegally should be critically looked into,” Lai
Mohammed, the spokesman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party
that has benefited most from the evictions, said.

Kayode Ajulo,
counsel to Delta Elders’ Forum – a group calling for the preosecution
of Mr. Uduaghan – argued that illegal office holders deserve sanctions
and could be tried by the state under the penal code. He lamented that
the states have so far lacked the political will to prosecute such
offenders.

He argued that for
an individual to rig his way into office, s/he must have committed
offences such as forgery, brigandage, snatching ballot box,conspiracy
against the government, and or causing public disorder which are all
punishable under the penal code.

“In Delta state,
the court ruled that there was no election; that means there was
forgery,” he argued. “Now, it is the duty of the government to
prosecute Mr.Uduaghan. The offences that are not covered by the
electoral act, the penal code covered. Our law is perfect.” Mr.

Ajulo added that it
is the responsibility of the government of affected states to call the
offender back and demand for the refund of the perks they enjoyed and
“if they don’t, take them to court and prosecute them based on the
penal code.” However,most winners of election cases would rather just
focus on governance.

Officials of the
Ekiti state government, a recent victim of stolen mandates, told Mr
Mohammed of the ACN said the fundamental corrective measure for the
issue of occupying offices illegally is a credible, free and fair
election.

“If there is free and fair elections, there will be less disputes,” said Mr.Mohammed.

Expensive journey

Petitioners who
have gone down full length of fighting electoral battles described the
process as a torturous and expensive journey designed to frustrate the
petitioner.

“I do not even wish
it on my enemy,” Alphonsus Igbeke, now a senator said after winning
back his seat at the senate in May this year, three years after the
legal battle started. He however literarily forgave Joy Emordi who
illegally enjoyed the seat.

Mojeed Jamiu, the
media adviser to Kayode Fayemi, the new governor of Ekiti state also
described their legal journey as tortuous. “We were in the trenches for
42 months; it’s been quite tortures and challenging,” he said.

He added that the
legal battle was pretty expensive, since they had to keep lawyers who
are Senior Advocates of Nigeria, witnesses and other logistics for such
a long time.

Johnson Obono, an
expert in legal costing, estimated that such protracted cases could
cost up to N150 million and in most cases frustrates broke
petitioners.Another lawyer, who asked not to be mentioned, added that
the cost is even made higher by bribe demands from judges at both the
tribunal and Appeal Courts.

Although the first
amendment to the 1999 constitution sought to fast track election
petitions and even went as far as recommending that all petitions be
dispensed with before May 29 swearing in date, the ongoing second
amendment will annihilate that provision and certainly, make
governorship election petitions more lengthy and expensive.

The latest
constitutional amendment recommends that an election tribunal shall
deliver its judgment on a case within 180 days (6 months) from the date
of the filing of the petition. It also stipulates that the petitions be
filled within 21 days after the elections.

In the case of presidential and governorship elections, the appeals
could also go to the Supreme Court, which is also mandated by the
constitution to deliver judgement in 60 days.

After staying at home for over three
months without pay, the striking lecturers of the Anambra State
University, ANSU, say they now depend on God and the goodwill of
friends for survival.

On July 22 this year, lecturers of the
five state owned varsities in the south east under the aegis of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), embarked on strike to
protest the failure of governors of the zone to implement the agreement
reached between ASUU and the federal government on their new salary
structure for lecturers in federal universities.

Now, nearly four months after, the lecturers are becoming increasingly uncomfortable as their pockets get emptier.

Emeka Obi, head of the department of
Public Administration at the university said only God and the
benevolence of friends have been sustaining them.

“God has been our help, that’s the only
thing I have to say. When you look around and things look bleak, you
may not even know what you’re doing, except that you are surviving,” Mr
Obi said.

Jaja Nwanegbo, chairman of ASUU in the
university, said what had been sustaining his colleagues was their
belief in the cause, a belief he said had made them ready to sacrifice
anything.

He told NEXT that the strike had led to
loss in not just man hours, but in terms of productivity and the
disruption of the school’s academic calendar. According to him, the
school which ought to be going into a new session was still stuck in
the second semester and would have to continue from there whenever the
strike ends.

He also noted that students who just
graduated ran the risk of missing out on the national youth service
scheme because they had not been able to finish with their clearances
before the strike.

Mr Nwanegbo said the lecturers last
received their salary in July; a situation, he said equally had a
debilitating effect on them.

“The only unfortunate thing is the
misconception the government is creating by misinforming the public on
what constituted the basis for the strike. They make it look as if it
is a salary issue only but we all know it also has to do with quality
of education,” he said.

The lecturers said they missed their
students most, as well as their work place and blamed the governors for
not considering those that voted them into office.

Idle students

The students have also not had it
easy. Chidiebere Okoye, a final year student of Political Science at
the Anambra university said they were tired of staying at home and
appealed to both the governors and ASUU to quickly find a solution to
the problem.

Oninye Iloghalu, a final year student
of Computer Science, told NEXT to help beg the lecturers to come back
to the classes since the governors did not want to soft pedal.

“Many students have taken to bad ways and after all this, cult activities may increase,” she said.

Our investigations also revealed that
it is not only the students and lecturers that are bearing the brunt of
the strike. Road side traders in the university, as well as hair
dressers, okada operators and even canteen operators, have all suffered
from the strike as their businesses which depend on the students have
nose dived.

But at a press briefing Friday, hopes
that the strike may soon be called off were raised when the chairman of
the Governing Council of the university, Elochukwu Amucheazi, said he
expected lectures to resume on the 22nd of November following fresh
negotiations with the lecturers of Anambra university.

He said the state government had again
raised the subvention to the school from N81m a month to N90m, while
the school adds N70m from internally generated revenue to bring the
monthly subvention to N160m.

He also said lecturers, at the end of
their meeting on Friday, said they would go and consult with their
various unions, even though some of them still insisted on a full
implementation of the new salary scheme. He however remained hopeful
that the strike would end before the 22nd.

But the strike, when it ends, will mean
an increase in tuition fees. According to Mr Amucheazi this had become
inevitable as the school would look for ways of making up for the
increase in the lecturers’ pay. He said the school paid the lowest fees
among state varsities, ranging from N35, 000 to N55, 000, but that a
slight increase would be effected to balance the equation.

“We have not fully recovered from the
Civil War and thus we do not want to over burden our people, hence the
marginal increase in tuition fees,” Mr Amucheazi said.

Last Tuesday,
President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly called off his trip to Lagos to
return to Abuja for a last ditch effort to head off a strike called for
last Wednesday by leaders of Nigeria’s labour unions. The gamble by Mr
Jonathan to insert himself into the lingering labour dialogue between
government and labour leaders had mixed results. Labour leaders
permitted the strike to go ahead on Wednesday, but they later called it
off same day to announce a one-month suspension.

“We have heard the
message of Mr President. We are going to go back to our organ
(executive council). The only thing we can say to you is that the
strike is on until it is called off by the organ,” Nigeria Labour
Congress acting president, Promise Adewusi said.

The plan is that
the National Executive Council (a gathering of state governors and
federal officials) which is the body handling the negotiations, would
have the opportunity to hold its next meeting and agree to terms with
Labour to increase the minimum wage to N18,000. The congress had
initially demanded N52,000 (346 dollars) as minimum wage for workers
but after negotiations with government, the union later accepted
N18,000.

But the agreement
with Labour, when it finally comes, is not going to bring to an end the
fondness of Nigerian workers – especially public officials – to turn
their backs on work anytime there is a dispute with their employees.
There are several strikes going on at various levels across the
country, but most have to do with state employees. Public service
doctors in Lagos have been on strike for more pay since August and
there doesn’t appear to be any end to that in sight. The same is true
of university lecturers in state owned universities in the five eastern
states who have been on strike over the past three months. Despite a
meeting with state officials at the weekend, the gap between the
demands of the lecturers and their employers are still wide.

That sometimes has
national implications. The national body of university teachers, the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and that of doctors,
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have both called national sympathy
strikes to draw attention to the angst of their chapters in the states.

Ayobode Williams,
the chairman of the Medical Guild in Lagos State blamed the action of
the doctors on the tin ear of government officials.

“Before the advent
of CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Scale), half of the registered
under Nigeria Medical and Dental Council were working abroad, once they
graduate, they move abroad, so the idea of CONMESS is to bridge that
gap,” he said. “At least, it’s enough to give doctors a meaningful
lifestyle. Now, the federal government has been able to implement
CONMESS. So, what we are now fighting for is to prevent local brain
drain, doctors moving from Lagos State hospitals, to federal hospitals.
I can tell you that about 40% of doctors working in Lagos State have
left during this strike.” Government officials have played fast and
loose with the action of the striking workers, seeking to ‘outblink’
them, as it were. Lagos State officials, for instance claim the state
cannot afford to pay wages being demanded by the doctors. They also
say, with some justification, that if they agree to pay the doctors
what they crave, other categories of medical workers would equally
increase their demands.

Bloated government

Valentine
Obienyem, a senior aide to Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, described
the strike by the South-east lecturers as a the result of an attempt by
lecturers from other parts of the country to experiment with them
before making their own demands.

“The rest of the
country are only encouraging the south east to continue agitating so
that once they get what they are asking, they will use it as a
bargaining chip,” he said, adding that the lecturers from the south
east were inadvertently allowing themselves to be so used. “Why is it
that other state universities such as Rivers and LASU that have the
same problem are quietly seeking solution without unnecessary media
hype?” Jaja Nwanegbo, chairman of ASUU at the Anambra State university
however called this scare mongering. He also said government officials
were muddying the issues to win the propaganda battle.

“The only
unfortunate thing is the misconception the government is creating by
misinforming the public on what constituted the basis for the strike.
They make it look as if it is a salary issue only but we all know it
also has to do with quality of education,” he said.

As usual, Labour
dismisses claims of insufficient funds by government officials as
untrue. Peter Esele, national president of the Trade Union Congress,
said government can afford to improve the welfare of workers if it
reduces the overhead of political appointees.

“The state
governors keep complaining. Yet, they are the ones that have hundreds
of Senior Special Advisers, Special Assistants, Personal Assistant to
the Special Adviser, and so on. At the end of the day, the cost of
governance is over-bloated. In the final analysis, what one deduces is
that when all the mathematics are put together they can pay if they
plug the holes in the system,” he said.

Last Tuesday,
President Goodluck Jonathan abruptly called off his trip to Lagos to
return to Abuja for a last ditch effort to head off a strike called for
last Wednesday by leaders of Nigeria’s labour unions. The gamble by Mr
Jonathan to insert himself into the lingering labour dialogue between
government and labour leaders had mixed results. Labour leaders
permitted the strike to go ahead on Wednesday, but they later called it
off same day to announce a one-month suspension.

“We have heard the
message of Mr President. We are going to go back to our organ
(executive council). The only thing we can say to you is that the
strike is on until it is called off by the organ,” Nigeria Labour
Congress acting president, Promise Adewusi said.

The plan is that
the National Executive Council (a gathering of state governors and
federal officials) which is the body handling the negotiations, would
have the opportunity to hold its next meeting and agree to terms with
Labour to increase the minimum wage to N18,000. The congress had
initially demanded N52,000 (346 dollars) as minimum wage for workers
but after negotiations with government, the union later accepted
N18,000.

But the agreement
with Labour, when it finally comes, is not going to bring to an end the
fondness of Nigerian workers – especially public officials – to turn
their backs on work anytime there is a dispute with their employees.
There are several strikes going on at various levels across the
country, but most have to do with state employees. Public service
doctors in Lagos have been on strike for more pay since August and
there doesn’t appear to be any end to that in sight. The same is true
of university lecturers in state owned universities in the five eastern
states who have been on strike over the past three months. Despite a
meeting with state officials at the weekend, the gap between the
demands of the lecturers and their employers are still wide.

That sometimes has
national implications. The national body of university teachers, the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and that of doctors,
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have both called national sympathy
strikes to draw attention to the angst of their chapters in the states.

Ayobode Williams,
the chairman of the Medical Guild in Lagos State blamed the action of
the doctors on the tin ear of government officials.

“Before the advent
of CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Scale), half of the registered
under Nigeria Medical and Dental Council were working abroad, once they
graduate, they move abroad, so the idea of CONMESS is to bridge that
gap,” he said. “At least, it’s enough to give doctors a meaningful
lifestyle. Now, the federal government has been able to implement
CONMESS. So, what we are now fighting for is to prevent local brain
drain, doctors moving from Lagos State hospitals, to federal hospitals.
I can tell you that about 40% of doctors working in Lagos State have
left during this strike.” Government officials have played fast and
loose with the action of the striking workers, seeking to ‘outblink’
them, as it were. Lagos State officials, for instance claim the state
cannot afford to pay wages being demanded by the doctors. They also
say, with some justification, that if they agree to pay the doctors
what they crave, other categories of medical workers would equally
increase their demands.

Bloated government

Valentine
Obienyem, a senior aide to Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, described
the strike by the South-east lecturers as a the result of an attempt by
lecturers from other parts of the country to experiment with them
before making their own demands.

“The rest of the
country are only encouraging the south east to continue agitating so
that once they get what they are asking, they will use it as a
bargaining chip,” he said, adding that the lecturers from the south
east were inadvertently allowing themselves to be so used. “Why is it
that other state universities such as Rivers and LASU that have the
same problem are quietly seeking solution without unnecessary media
hype?” Jaja Nwanegbo, chairman of ASUU at the Anambra State university
however called this scare mongering. He also said government officials
were muddying the issues to win the propaganda battle.

“The only
unfortunate thing is the misconception the government is creating by
misinforming the public on what constituted the basis for the strike.
They make it look as if it is a salary issue only but we all know it
also has to do with quality of education,” he said.

As usual, Labour
dismisses claims of insufficient funds by government officials as
untrue. Peter Esele, national president of the Trade Union Congress,
said government can afford to improve the welfare of workers if it
reduces the overhead of political appointees.

“The state
governors keep complaining. Yet, they are the ones that have hundreds
of Senior Special Advisers, Special Assistants, Personal Assistant to
the Special Adviser, and so on. At the end of the day, the cost of
governance is over-bloated. In the final analysis, what one deduces is
that when all the mathematics are put together they can pay if they
plug the holes in the system,” he said.

Ekiti State
Governor, Kayode Fayemi has approved the implementation of the
Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and the Consolidated
Health Workers Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Medical and Health
workers in the state.

The state
government, in a circular signed by the Permanent Secretary, Office of
Establishment and Training, Kunle Abegunde, said the new salary scale
would take effect from October 1, 2010.

According to the
circular, the newly approved package for the Medical and Health Workers
in Ondo State was adopted for workers in all government health
Institutions in the state; while the new package would also be
applicable for workers at the University Teaching Hospital with due
cognizance to the institution’s autonomy as an extension of the
University of Ado Ekiti.

The agitation for
the payment of the CONMESS/CONHESS by the Ekiti State Health workers
dated back to January 2010, when the Federal Government approved the
salary structure and culminated in a nine-week industrial action by
doctors at the University of Ado Ekiti Teaching Hospital, which they
started on July 25.

However, with the approval of the new salary structure by Mr
Fayemi, the state became the second state in the South-West Nigeria to
implement the new wage regime.

A governorship
candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party {PDP} in Ogun State,
Isiaka Gboyega, yesterday said he was not threatened by the emergence
of Tunji Olurin, said to be the choice of former president, Olusegun
Obasanjo, as his main challenger for the party’s ticket.

Mr. Gboyega, who
was recently announced consensus candidate by some politicians from the
Ogun West senatorial zone, the same zone to which Mr. Olurin belongs,
said the party primaries would determine the flagbearer of the party.

Speaking with
journalists at his campaign office in Abeokuta, Mr. Gboyega said a
majority of those rooting for Mr. Olurin are not card carrying members
of the party, and cannot be delegates during the party primaries.

“If any elders tell
us we don’t have the experience to run the state, we will tell them
that please am sorry sir, this is an insult. Now, for anybody to say
with my little background, with my little experience, that I don’t have
experience to run the state, I think that would be an insult. I would
tell them so politely,” he said.

Behind the wheel

Still on the
allegation that Mr. Olurin is the more experienced person best suited
for the job, Mr. Gboyega said the situation is best likened to a
scenario where a 60-year-old man, who probably have been driving over
the last 40 years, now has a son who started driving 20 years after.

“They want to
travel and the man will now say, because I am the one that has more
experience, let me be at the wheel. It is not done,” he said.

He also said it was
an insult to people of his generation to be told they could not hold
the levers of power, saying it was time younger people take charge of
the country.

“Nobody can be telling us about experience now because we also know
the kind of experience that people have when they were also taking over
leadership some 20, 30 years ago,” he said.