Wabba: NLC Would Not Dabble into Projects Like Kriston Lally Anymore

National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, in this interview with Damilola Oyedele, speaks on the disputed NLC elections, the task before his executive, and why the congress would no longer get involved in activities like the failed h

What are your thoughts on the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections?

It is definitely an improvement on past elections because with the PVCs and the introduction of the card readers, even though there were some challenges, it remains an improvement over what we had in 2011. It created confidence and encouraged the stability which we now have. So we should encourage INEC to improve on this technology and the system that has been used. I am certain that ultimately, we would be able to get it right and disputes over election results would be eliminated. It has done a lot of good to our electoral process and gives confidence to the electorate, it also instills fear into election riggers. To a larger extent, it has reduced manipulation although I cannot say it has totally eliminated manipulation because of the failures recorded in some areas, whether deliberate or otherwise.

What exactly would Nigerian workers expect from the new government?

Good governance. Essentially our major problem in the country is good governance. Where we can provide social services, the economy would thrive better, we can partake in our shared prosperity. We have great potential in this country, considering all the indices in terms of our resources, we have what it takes to build a stronger economy and a strong country.

Another expectation is the elimination of corruption which remains a major challenge for our development, we also expect the provision of employment opportunities for our youth.

Following the disputes from the NLC elections, are you optimistic that the reconciliation committee recently set up would be able to restore the other faction to the congress?

It is about the goodwill and the hand of fellowship that we have extended to them. The lessons from our general election is that in every contest, there must be a winner and a loser and so it is necessary that we can effectively respond to the outcome of an election in a way and manner that will portray us as responsible.

What happened is unfortunate, that some of our colleagues behaved the way they did, because the process was excellently arranged and transparent as captured even by media houses television crews. We will do everything possible but it takes two to tango, we have tried to extend our hands of fellowship to them, and even our veterans have done same. Our hope is that they would see reason beyond personal and selfish interests, to look at the larger picture of Nigerian workers and the challenges before us, and unite and be able to confront the challenges.

So I am optimistic due to the fact that all members of my executive are assiduously working towards that. We also constituted a committee, on the advice of the elders, to engage both sides and see how to resolve the issues. All our veterans, from the first President of the NLC Hassan Sunmonu, the first General Secretary Dangiwa Umar, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, all participated in the process throughout and they were unanimous in the fact that the election was transparent. What our friends and colleagues did brought a lot of setback, but we are approaching the issue with open minds and hope we would be able to resolve it.

But as I said, it takes two people to agree, we may agree on our part and do everything possible, but if the other party has a fixed mind on what he wants to do, then it is possible he has a fixed position. We are putting to use our time tested internal dispute resolution mechanism and we hope to be able to resolve it.

The courtesy visit by your executives to the State Security Service (SSS) has raised eyebrows with speculations that following the split into a faction, you may be seeking validation by the organs of government. Why did you visit the SSS?

We did not visit only the SSS. During proceedings of the election, there was a desperate attempt to abort the conference. We had also had credible information that some people where planning to disrupt the process. More than 3019 workers participated and there was an outcome.

So what we thought was that for a good beginning, we should introduce ourselves, and we didn’t stop at the SSS, we visited all our major social partners: Federal Ministry of Labour, NECA and Police. Whether we like it or not, we would have engagements with these people, and in the course of our engagements, they need to know which organ they are dealing with.

Secondly, we also need to appreciate the fact that if not that the credentials committee did everything possible to prevent a re-occurrence of what happened at the International Conference Center, the elections would have been disrupted. So it was important because even during the Nigeria general elections, it was because security was fortified, people would have disrupted the process. So it was important for us to recognize the fact that as a mass organization, we would have interaction, conflicts and in the course of discharging our responsibility, we would have cause to have engagement with those parties and the groups. We should also appreciate that we have done everything possible for the elections to be concluded.

Even in the best of societies, the relationship between one social partner and another is not determined on the basis of initial discussions you have, it is on the basis of what you are able to achieve at the end of the day.

Where we need to engage, we would engage, where we need to dialogue, we would dialogue. Nigerian workers who elected us have implicit confidence in us, and they know when it comes to representing their interests, we would do so without hesitation.

On the failed NLC- Kriston Lally affordable housing scheme, how soon should subscribers to the project expect their refunds?

We are about to set up a committee on that. There are two issues involved because a lot of what has been fed to the media is false information. First, the Kriston Lally housing project was initiated through our various organs. It is also true that we had challenge with the project, but we are also aware that most of the protests that followed were actually masterminded and people were sponsored. I was one of the persons that addressed all of them in the hall before the delegate conference, and we realized that some of them were not even subscribers. They were sponsored to undermine the congress and malign people’s integrity and character.

We are working closely with the leadership of the subscribers. We met with them before the conference, and we put the facts before them. After a lot of intervention by various agencies of government, where it was resolved that the money that in Access Bank account, which is in excess of about N2.5 billion and that having lost confidence in the project, the money should be returned. The process started, all documentation were concluded then, the Kriston Lally guy agreed only for him to go under. The process had been concluded, only for transfer to be effected into the various accounts of subscribers. At that point, we took the initiative to report him officially to agencies of government, he was declared wanted, he has now surfaced and

Another expectation is the elimination of corruption which remains a major challenge for our development, we also expect the provision of employment opportunities for our youth