Labour unionism in Nigeria is not a recent development. However, over the past 2 decades or so, the various labour unions in Nigeria have been in the news as at no other time in our history. The popularity of the unions came to a crescendo in the late 80’s, during the regime of Ibrahim Babangida. The SAP strike and riots of 1989 was one of the most coordinated strike actions in the nation’s history. The strike of 1993, over the annulment of the June 12 elections was another strike action that literally brought the nation to its knees. Since then, the labour unions have engaged in one strike action or the other with increasing regularity. Perhaps this has been buoyed by the successes of the strike actions of the SAP and June 12 saga. From the University lecturers to the medical doctors to nurses, Nitel staff, PHCN staff, NLC etc, all of these and more have gone on strike at one time or the other to press home their various demands. Whilst most of these actions have been localized and restricted to the specific sectors and issues involved, in recent times the NLC in particular have been directed at changing the direction of general economic policy and herein lay my interest.
It is a known fact that the Nigerian economy is grossly underperforming. There are many causes for this, but a significant reason is the fact that Federal and State governments control a huge chunk of the country’s economic activity. Unfortunately, this huge chunk has been mismanaged over the years, thereby leaving the economy in the doldrums. In an attempt to correct the imbalances to the economy caused by inefficient government departments and companies, efforts have been made to privatize many companies hitherto managed and operated by the government. However, in many cases, these attempts have been met with stiff resistance from the NLC. In particular, issues relating to privatization of the nations refineries, its electricity infrastructure, roads, telecoms and airports have been met with unusually strong opposition. The position of the labour unions has usually been that some of these sectors are so interlinked with the common man that putting them in private hands to be run for profit motives would result in suffering for the masses. In other cases, it has been argued that putting them in private hands would result in “national security issues” as in the case of telecoms and airports; however I find these arguments, especially the latter one, to be outdated, given that no country operates in isolation anymore.
I have reason to call into question the competence of the NLC to make such assertions. From experience, I have concluded that in everyday discourse, only a minute proportion of the discussants are really competent to speak on any subject matter. A classical example would be in matters concerning the Super Eagles. When they perform badly, everyone is suddenly a coach and prescribes a “better” option for the way forward. “Oh, Okocha should not have started”, “Why didn’t he bring on Kanu?” people say, forgetting that the same Kanu had been touted by the majority of Nigerian’s as being too old and slow to make the world cup team of any serious nation! Another good example is the typical newspaper stand. They are usually flocked by all manner of people, most of who have not had a decent education or specialized in any field. Yet, just listen to them talk! They usually have an opinion and solution to every headline on every newspaper on any matter under the sun. I find that the NLC most times falls into the same category.
As someone schooled in Accounting, macro and micro economics, corporate finance and international finance, and given the social situation we find ourselves in, I find that privatization is one of the best things that can happen to most of our state owned enterprise. First the change of ownership to private hands will reduce the corruption which these enterprises are used to perpetrate. NNPC and PHCN are a case in point. Secondly, the improved efficiency will mean that the services will be provided faster, and in some cases cheaper and thirdly, the privatized industries are likely to provide far more jobs for the teeming unemployed than if they were left in public hands. The telecoms industry is always my favorite case study. In over 3 decades, Nitel provided us with a paltry 500,000 lines, but the GSM companies have provided us with over 40 million lines in 10 years. It took about 6months (if you didn’t know anyone and were also lucky) to apply for and receive a Nitel line back in the day. Today, you can get a GSM line in minutes. Nitel as far as I know never made any dividend payment to its owner, the Federal Government, but the GSM and CDMA companies pay taxes to government running into hundreds of billions of Naira. At best Nitel provided 10,000 direct jobs and very little indirect jobs. Today, I would expect that direct jobs provided by the telecoms companies at the very least matches the 10,000, but the indirect jobs probably runs into the hundreds of thousands, from those hawking recharge cards, to those operating call centers, to advertising agencies, builders of masts, those who lease out generating sets, provide security services etc. With these obvious benefits, why on earth would an NLC be so against the final sale of Nitel? Any student of economics should be able to conclude rather easily that the overall benefits of the privatized telecoms industry far outweighs the burden of keeping the staff at Nitel unproductively employed.
My take on this is that the NLC continues to struggle with government simply to remain relevant and not necessarily to make your life or my life better. In a nation as corrupt as Nigeria, I rather doubt that corruption has not also found its way into the various unions who are supposedly fighting on our behalf, oblivious that in many cases their actions actually cause more long term suffering to Nigerians.
Another interesting case study is the brouhaha surrounding the privatization of PHCN, which the unions seem to be against. It is common knowledge that PHCN is corrupt and inefficient. It is also common knowledge that stable electricity will do wonders for the Nigerian economy by boosting its productive capacity and by opening a new vista of opportunities for provision of services. It is also common knowledge that all companies, big and small, and a large amount of private residences use private generating sets for varying lengths of time on a daily basis. It is also common knowledge that self generated power is about 10 times more expensive than the current national tariff. I therefore find it puzzling that whenever the issue of PHCN’s privatization comes up in public discourse, the electricity union’s rise up to say that all they require is more funding and that are capable of managing the company. A company they have failed to manage properly for the last 30years!!?? One does not need a soothsayer to tell that the current staff of PHCN cannot turn around the fortunes of that company. Discussion with their staff whenever I go to pay my bills indicate that they do not possess simple logic, lack integrity, proper work ethic and honesty, are ages behind in current technological advances in the sector, are not proactive, do not have the capacity to design and implement processes and procedures that will ensure the system works properly and are generally un-trainable.
If this is the case though and we all know it, why then is there so much resistance to handing PHCN and its successor companies over to private companies who will have the capacity to manage them effectively and far more efficiently and import far better technology and deploy current best practices? One would have thought the overriding interest would be to make electricity available to the nation and by so doing oil the nation’s path to economic recovery. If electricity is really the opium for our economy that many people are saying it is, then it is likely that the increased economic activity it will create will bring about many more jobs than could ever be lost by privatizing PHCN. This is simple economics, and has already been proven to be true as described in the telecoms sector. This does not even take into account the improved incomes people in other sectors will generate as a result of regular electricity, more expensive or not. And I see no reason why this cannot apply in other sectors as well - even downstream petroleum!
It seems that in fighting to keep a “few” employed at some of these state owned companies, the overall impact of these labor agitations as regards privatization is actually worsening the lot of most other Nigerians. The intention is not to make it appear that the unions are not useful. They certainly are, especially when it comes to smaller localized issues their workers may be having with their employers, but when it comes to trying to get involved in directing national economic policy, I really do not think the NLC is doing us any favors.
very good
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