Reminiscences with Alhaji Taiwo Hassan Sunmonu
Alhaji Taiwo Hassan Adebayo Sunmonu was the pioneer President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). In this REMINISCENCES, Alhaji Sunmonu, who will clock 79 years on January 7, 2020, recalls the positive influence of his disciplinarian grandparents on he
How was your childhood?
I was born identical twins. My twin brother is alive. We were born in the old Gold Coast. We were brought to Osogbo at the age of seven. My dad was from the Odeyemi compound in Osogbo, while my mother hailed from the Balogun Biiro compound in Osogbo. My grandmother was from the Aleko compound.
My twin brother and I grew up in Osogbo. We started our primary school at Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School, Osogbo, in 1948. In 1950, we were moved to the All Saints School, Osogbo, where we finished our primary education in December 1954. Thereafter, we were admitted to Osogbo Grammar School in January 1955.
Our father was a cocoa merchant in Gold Coast, now Ghana. In 1956, we were withdrawn from Osogbo Grammar School and taken back to Ghana. A week to Ghana’s Independence in 1957, we came back to Nigeria and sat for the entrance examination into the Yaba College of Technology. It used to be Yaba Tech Institute, comprising a secondary school, Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) sections. We completed our secondary education there in June 1961.
My twin brother and I were employed by the Federal Ministry of Works on September 13, 1961 as Assistant Technology Officer-inTraining. The ministry sent us back to Yaba Tech for further education. So we had our OND and HND there. It used to be a sandwich course then. After our education, we continued working with the Federal Ministry of Works.
What remarkable developments can you recall about your primary and secondary school days?
I remember very well that all the pupils at the Ansar-ud-Deen Primary School we attended were Muslims. On the Empire Day celebration, we would march in our Alikinmba white wear and would look distinct among other pupils. Our school used to come first. I remember Sarafa, a pupil in our school, who would display with a stick during the parade. It was an unforgettable experience. I still remember the Arabic and Quranic lessons in school.
I also remember that the late Alake of Egbaland, Sir Oladapo Ademola, was exiled to Osogbo in 1949 and the house where he stayed was directly opposite our school. We used to see him and members of his family. He was the father of Nigeria’s first Chief Justice, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola. The Alake’s exile was after the crisis caused by Fela’s mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who mobilised women against the Alake when Egba women were asked to pay tax and the women refused. Sir Oladapo Ademola was asked to go on exile for six months.
I remember that at All Saints, Muslim pupils were doing better in Bible study than the Christians. Our teachers always found that very annoying. All Saints was not yet a Cathedral then and we pupils helped in the construction of the church in 1953. We were in Standard 5 then and the pupils volunteered their services in constructing the church. The great Oyin Adejobi, now late, staged an opera for the fund-raising for the church and my twin brother and I acted as children of Elkana in the story of Samuel. That was how we became members of the
Oyin Adejobi Theatre Group and were going for practice after school hours. In secondary school at Osogbo Grammar School, we continued with the theatre group and performed in various parts of the Osun Division.
I also remember that I had a girlfriend in primary school. When we were withdrawn from Osogbo Grammar School because our parents lacked money, she decided to leave me because she wouldn’t want to continue with someone that was not going to school. She was from a famous family in Osogbo. She wouldn’t even greet me again because I was not going to school. But immediately we were admitted to Yaba Tech, she was the first that wrote a letter to me. She is late now.
At Yaba Tech, we were very active members of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Yaba Tech branch. In our second year at Yaba Tech, I was made the Secretary of the MSSN. Part of the responsibilities of the Secretary of the MSSN was to invite Muslim scholars to give sermons to Muslim students and interested Christian students. Also, during Ramadan, I would be the one to go from room to room to wake Muslim students who signified intention to fast.
I had two girlfriends in the MSSN then. I wasn’t as lucky as my twin brother with whom I had a promise that we would marry the same day. When my twin brother and his girlfriend were ready to wed, my two girlfriends had gone awol and I had to begin all over again. That was why my twin brother couldn’t marry his fiancée because the lady couldn’t wait until I have another lady. But eventually, my twin brother and I married the same day on September 7, 1969 at the Yaba College of Tech. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of our wedding this year.
When my wife was about to leave secondary school, she was offered admission to the UCH, Ibadan, as a trainee nurse. But I was able to persuade her to be a teacher to be able to take care of our children. That was how she studied education at the University of Lagos. My brother’s wife read
Pharmacy at the University of Ife (now OAU), while my brother and I studied Civil Engineering.
What can you remember about your parents and your grandparents?
When we were about nine years old, we were staying with our paternal grandmother at Oyeyemi compound in Osogbo. Our paternal grandmother was a disciplinarian and we weren’t enjoying our stay with her. It was much later that we realised she was actually training us in the right direction. She would leave us at home for three days and give us gari and palm oil with other ingredients and tell us to take care of ourselves till she returns.
One day, we became fed up with all that and decided to terrify the woman. So when she returned, we called her and said, “Grandma, we have decided to die, so we will die.” We thought she would be terrified and start begging us, but instead, she told us to die and pointed to a rock where she said she would bury us. Since then, we never threatened her.
We learnt the virtue of hard work from her. On Saturdays, we would go to the farm to fetch firewood for cooking at home. We would fetch the first round for cooking and go back to the farm to fetch the second round of firewood that we would sell. One day, we felt that no matter the quantity or load of firewood that we fetch, we cannot sell it for more than three pence. So we decided that after fetching the firewood for cooking, we would get palm frond from palm wine tappers and use it to make basket that we can sell at the market. We started making baskets and selling for six pence each, and sometimes for nine pence. We were happy that we were making more money, unlike when we were selling only firewood for three pence.
Early in our childhood, we were subjected to hard work. We didn’t like it but it was really good training for us. It made us know the value of money. We learnt how to save money through sweating to earn it; we were never profligate. We never drank alcohol, we didn’t smoke and we didn’t womanise. We learnt how to save money instead of blowing it away. We also learnt proverbs and culture from Mama. Some of the old women around her were her friends and when they came and started discussing, we would listen. Some of the proverbs I proudly say till now came from grandma.
Our maternal grandparents at Balogunbiro were famers and we used to go to farm with them during the holiday. We relished going to the farm and accompanying the hunters to hunt animals in the bush, particularly in the dry season. We also loved sleeping in the farm.
As twins, did you enjoy special treatment or suffer any form of stigmatization from people?
The Yoruba people deify twins. Women used to come to us in the morning before going to market to ask us to touch their wares so they could sell very well. They would come back later to tell us they had sold everything and give us part of their gains and also heap tributes on us. We got favours in most places we went to because of our twin status. Many people liked keeping us company and singing for us. Most people, including, surprisingly, our mother, would mistake us for each other because our resemblance was so striking.
At that time, many people believed that twins had powerful spirits and that drove fear into traditionalists, unlike now that nobody cares. In those days, it was believed that witches and wizards cannot kill twins. We attracted attention easily wherever we went. We played football in our secondary school’s mosquito team and did some athletics at Yaba Tech. We also did boxing at Yaba Tech, though not elaborately but just for self- defence.
How did you emerge as the pioneer president of the Nigeria Labour Congress?
I was just fortunate to lead the team as founding president. We were actually all elected into leadership and worked as a team. It was a collective thing. Comrade David Ojeli, who is in Enugu now, was my Deputy then. Comrade Ero Philip was the founding Assistant Treasurer; he is 91 years old now, while Dangiwa was the founding General Secretary. We also had the late Dr Lasisi Osunde, as well as Yahaya Hasim, who is in Kano now and has a doctorate degree.
We did very well in our first term and were re-elected. Ojeli contested with me as President for second term but lost and that was why he was not in our team for the second term. We all worked together in tandem to build a solid foundation for unionism. We got cooperation from employers, who were well organised under the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association. The NLC worked hard to unify and strengthen the 42 industrial unions that are affiliates of the NLC. One of the things we did was to remove the bad impression people had about unionists. A lot of people in those days believed that trade unionists were troublemakers who had been dismissed by their employers and came together to form unions to cause confusion. But that wasn’t true.
During our tenure in the NLC, we decided to bring respect to the trade union movement. I remember now that as President of the NLC, I was invited to give a lecture at the Nigeria Institute of Strategic Studies (NIPPS) on March 8, 1980. Among the participants were Ambassador Enahoro, who was the eldest of the Enahoros and is now dead, and retired Major General Paul Tafa. They asked me questions and I answered them. I then decided to ask them a question. I asked who among them was a trade unionist and they said none. I then pointed it out to them that the NIPSS structure was not yet complete. From 1981, NIPPS started asking the NLC to bring participants. The labour movement has since then had more than 50 NIPSS alumni.
Were there crises in the NLC during your tenure as President?
First and foremost, we had an ideology within the trade union movement, and still do. That’s what a lot of people don’t know. We have socialists, Marxists and right wing elements. After the February 1978 inaugural NLC election in Ibadan, the right wing elements in the trade union movement felt that those of us in the left were dominant in the leadership of the NLC and they formed a group they called ‘the progressives’. But we were able to accommodate and work with them because we didn’t want anything that would split the NLC. So there was no split in our time. That was how we dealt with it. The differences were about ideological positions between the left and the right but we were able to manage whatever the differences we had.
What would you say of the NLC as it is now?
The NLC has weathered many storms. In our days, we used the analogue telephone but the world has since become a global village. Some of today’s students may know more than their lecturers do because of technology and easy access to information. Therefore, the problems that NLC of today would have to tackle are different from what we faced in our days. However, the current leadership of the NLC from time to time seeks advice from those of us who are veterans.
One day, we became fed up with all that and decided to terrify the woman. So when she returned, we called her and said, “Grandma, we have decided to die, so we will die.” We thought she would be terrified and start begging us, but instead, she told us to die and pointed to a rock where she said she would bury us. Since then, we never threatened her.
What vision do you have of the NLC, looking forward?
I will like to see the NLC investing in profitable economic
ventures, not only to create jobs but to also create wealth.
What is your take on some critics’ opinion that unionists aren’t really fighting workers’ interests?
That would be very unfortunate if any worker or a group of workers think or feel that the NLC is not fighting their interest. It’s said that if anybody considers education as expensive, such a person should try ignorance. If the NLC was not there, who would fight for and protect the interest of workers? What would be their fate, who would ask for their rights? Who would defend them? The NLC is there to protect the interest of workers, either in the public or private sector. The NLC has always been fighting for workers.
Why are trade unionists and governments always at daggers drawn?
So many things. Majorly, because things are not done the right way. Take Nigeria, for example. The country is still being governed as a unitary state, as if it is still under military dictatorship. As a federal republic, the states have their own powers, while the federal government also has its own powers, and the powers are divided. Imagine governors running to Abuja for allocation before they can pay workers. That’s one of the causes of crises. We have to go back to the drawing board and ensure we have a true federal republic. You cannot run a federal system like a unitary one. Look at the United States of America with more than 50 states and no state runs to Washington to collect allocation. Why should our own be different? But the people benefiting from this anomaly will not want things to be right.
What’s your impression of the democratic system in the country?
There is an adage that a prayer, whether it will be answered or not, is better than a curse. No matter its flaws, democracy is still better that military dictatorship. Under democracy, the power belongs to the people, though the manner our democratic system is being practised is not okay. The way democracy in this country is going has a lot of question marks. Can a poor man who is intelligent, honest and determined to serve the country and people win an election in Nigeria on his own integrity without any Godfather backing him? That’s unlikely. So is that democracy? Does power actually belong to the people? Who are the servants between those elected and those that elected them? Those are the questions. If people in your community like you and voted for you but their votes didn’t count, is that democracy? I was one of those that fought at the continental level for a popular, participatory and people-empowered democracy in Africa. But are the Nigerian people empowered under this democracy? We vote every four years, but do our votes count? Until Nigerians are sincerely empowered, our democracy can’t be on solid ground. I don’t belong to any political party in Nigeria because of some unanswered questions.
So what do you consider as the solution?
Restructuring. Not the kind of restructuring that the politicians are talking about, where they want 100 states to be created when most of the existing states are glorified local governments. We need restructuring in which Nigeria will be restructured into about six or eight regions that would be able to provide the basic needs for their people without going cap-inhand to Abuja. Regions that can tap the resources in their respective areas and be self-sustaining and can satisfy the basic needs of their people in terms of provision of social amenities, healthcare delivery, free education and employment generation.
How would you rate President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?
He’s trying. The administration is on course. Given the rot in the past, I will rate Buhari’s government as having a good performance.
For instance, which country can develop without a good railway system and a good road network? But look at Ajaokuta, billions of naira was sunk into it before they abandoned it at 90 per cent completion. The cost of that remaining 10 per cent might be more than the whole cost of the entire project now. Look at the Osogbo Machine Tools and Steel Rolling Company in Osogbo; what’s happening there now? They said they privatised it but what have those that took it over done, what have they produced since then? With the giant construction works going on in the country now, like the railway project alone, think of the amount of steel that the project will need. If Ajaokuta, and the Steel Rolling and Machine Tools in Osogbo were working and producing, we wouldn’t be importing steel from China. And consider the huge number of jobs that would generate. But because most of the leaders we have had in the past had been myopic, unpatriotic and selfish, they abandoned all these and we have had to be importing everything, including rice. Now, we are producing rice.
In terms of vision of how Nigeria should be and the fight against corruption, Buhari is trying. I’m not a member of Buhari’s party but an adage says that if your daughter is beautiful, say it, not because you want to marry her.
However, one of the flaws of the Buhari administration is the manner the government is not obeying court orders. It is wrong because we are in a democracy, not a military dictatorship.
Many people said the fight against corruption is witchhunting. What’s your take on this?
When people steal and someone is trying to recover the loot and you say it is witch-hunting, if so, let it be. The important thing is to catch a thief and recover what he has stolen. Look at the worst Minister of Petroleum we ever had in the history of this country, look at the amount she stole. Will you call that witch-hunting? If that’s what you think, no problem, all we care about is that all monies stolen from Nigeria and Nigerians should be recovered and returned and be used to develop Nigeria. It is as simple as that.
As a labour leader, how do you rate the emoluments of the National Assembly legislators against workers’ meagre salaries?
Our legislators are earning more than they deserve. Their emoluments should be drastically reduced. That’s my feeling. Also, we need only a unicameral
National Assembly. Why should we have the Senate and House of Representatives apart? We are wasting a lot of money on them. How can a Nigerian senator be earning more than the President of the United States of America? Our senators are earning more than senators in America despite the fact that the US is far above us in terms of economic power.
There is no economic justification for what our federal legislators earn. Why should life be more abundant for only a few people while the majority are suffering? Honestly, there is no moral justification for the money our senators and members of the House of Representatives earn. The monies should be slashed. A lot of countries have decided on that. We must start working on the possibility of a per term legislature. We were so at Independence and the country was better off.
What’s your general advice?
We should all join hands to move Nigeria forward. There is no reason why Nigeria should not be among the 10 best countries of the world. God Almighty has endowed this country with a huge population of about 200 million people and there is no state in Nigeria that does not have, at least, two strategic mineral resources. We must stop agonising. We must be organised. Don’t agonize, instead organize. Nigerians are resourceful people. Let’s be more patriotic and less selfish.