Writing for Revolutionary Change (Part I

Writing for Revolutionary Change

… Analysis of capitalist economic, social and

political crises in Nigeria, Africa and

the World through the eye of a Trotskyite

Kola Ibrahim

Content list

I Policy issues

1. Who Corrupted the Public Service?

2. Corruption: Need for a Radical Workers’ Party

3. On Retrenchment: Punch You Are Wrong

4. Fuel Prices Hike: Working People Reject This Onslaught

5. Motorcycle Helmet Enforcement: A Sign of Governance In Disarray

6. Still on Okada helmet Enforcement: A Call for Action

7. Re-deregulating Robbery in Nigeria

8. Nigeria’s Bank Crisis and the Limit of Sanusi’s Capitalist Reforms

II. Political Debates

1. Where is the Nigerian left?

2. Imperialism, Obasanjo and Nigerians

3. Mass investment in Oshiomhole

4. Nigeria's Solution is not in the Ballot Box

5. Tribunal’s Ruling: Imperative of a Working Class Political Alternative

6. Oshiomhole's Victory: Labour Should Build Radical Labour Party Now

7. Talking About the Nigerian revolution

8. Nigeria: Ekiti’s Political Drama; A Reflection

9. Boko Haram and a Working Class Alternative

10. Gani Fawehinmi: Not Yet a Postscript

11. The Blood Flood in Jos and the Role of the Working class

12. Nigeria’s Political logjam: Revolutionary Alternative to the Policy of Lesser Evil

III. Workers’ Movement

1. Workers Demand for N35, 000 minimum Wage Commendable but…

2. Post-Workers’ Day: a Critical Review of the Political Role of Labour Leadership

IV. Education

1. Nigerian Students’ Movement in Perspective

2. Time to Resist Education Commercialization

3. Developing Education: Not Through Neo-Liberalism

4. Teachers' Strike: for a Long Term Struggle for Total Change

5. University Workers’ Strikes and Governments’ Treachery: For a Popular Action

V. International Issues

1. Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution

2. EPA means Economic Enslavement

3. Bakassi: No Justice from The Hague

4. Zimbabwe's Political Quagmire: In Search of a Genuine Working Class Solution

5. Kenya’s Crisis and Imperialism: For a Working Class Alliance

6. A Tribute to Fidel Castro

7. A Critical Review of South African Xenophobic Attacks

8. Zimbabwe: The Mugabe-Tsvangirai Rotten Alliance

9. Zimbabwe: Selling Out the Masses in the Name of Power Sharing

10. World Food Crisis: Imperative of a Working Class Alternative to the Capitalist Rot

11. Economic Meltdown: Capitalism’s Death Agony; In Search of Socialist Way Out

12. Israel’s Bleeding of Gaza and the Failure of Capitalism

Section 1:

1. Who Corrupted the Public Service?

2. Corruption: Need for a Radical Workers’ Party

3. On Retrenchment: punch you are wrong

4. Fuel prices hike: working people reject this onslaught

5. Motorcycle helmet enforcement: a sign of governance in disarray

6. Still on Okada helmet enforcement: a call for action

7. Re-deregulating robbery in Nigeria

8. Nigeria’s bank crisis and the limit of Sanusi’s capitalist reforms

1. WHO CORRUPTED THE PUBLIC SERVICE?

The reigning idea within the ruling class in Nigeria is that public service is corrupt, inept and totally bankrupt, but one just wonder how striving corporations like NITEL, Ajaokuta Steel Mill and other mills in the country, NICON, NNPC and several other striving industrial concerns of government which were rated as best in Africa, now became nests of corruption. One wonder how the workers of the 1960’s, ‘70’s and early ‘80’s, who played the central role in building and operating these public corporations, suddenly become inept and corrupt. However, with the revelations coming from the presidency and other public officers, where the number one citizen (Olusegun Obasanjo) and his VICE (Atiku Abubakar) have been fingered in monumental fraud, corruption and bribery which in natural situation would have required taking them to firing squad, the cause of the collapse of these public corporations is clearly decipherable. (In 2006, in the struggle to hold on to power, the two leading public officers accused each other of corruption. While Atiku accused Obasanjo of looting the treasury, the presidency also fingered Atiku in a $250 million PTDF fraud.) This again gives credence to belief of many Nigerians, that it is the presidency, the ruling class and the so-called big business entrepreneurs that are the parasites who are eating up the whole gains of public service. It is furthermore ironic how they are shifting the blame on innocent working people of the country.

From these revelations, it is clear that it is the politicians (along with their ex-general collaborators), who have no other source of wealth than looting our public treasury that should be held responsible for the rot in the public service and not the workers who have sacrificed several years of toil in maintaining the public service As a result of the neo-liberal ideology, workers have been victimized, the wealth of the country have been stolen away by the parasitic capitalist class which hide under the guise of entrepreneurs and foreign investors to buy up the public corporations – which they themselves destroyed thanks to their nepotism, capital flight, looting and misappropriation – at token charges. . (According to a report of a Christopher Kolade Investigative Panel set-up by Obasanjo in 2000, it was revealed how generals, senior military personnel and top bureaucrats stole public properties and looted the treasury. The Abubakar Abdul-salami was reported to be the most corrupt government in history as the money per time stolen by the military top brass of the government at the federal level who were then handling over to their civilian counterparts, far outstripped those stolen by previous government. This is aside the looting at the state and local level by then outgoing military rulers and their civilian appendages. The Okigbo report set-up by Abacha government in 1995 indicted the Babangida regime to have looted $12.4 billion Gulf War oil windfall (the excess wealth gained by Nigeria as a result of crude oil price increase caused by Gulf war between US and Iraq). This is just a windfall! Abacha alone was reported to have looted over $4 billion from Nigeria; aside billions stolen by members of the regime at all levels. These are monies meant to develop the nation – its economy and social services. The failure to use these monies to develop the country led to starving of public institutions of needed fund to develop while undemocratic and corrupt managers of these corporations used this to loot the better part of these public corporations. This coupled with criminal collaboration of the international capitalist organizations – IMF, World Bank, WTO, IFC, etc – which provided ideological basis for this robbery by advocating neo-liberal policies of commercialization, privatization, liberalization, etc that helped multinational companies and international financial sharks to gain huge profit at the expense of the masses, led to total collapse of the public institutions. Did Obasanjo government failure to bring these looters to book accidental?)

Consequently, workers are sacked, economy liberalized thus killing local peasants. Furthermore, the politicians in power under the fraudulent neo-liberal ideology commercializes education, health, pension, road maintenance, even police which make the huge wealth accruing to the country to be available, not to the whole population, but to the super-rich in the corridors of power and to give the so-called business gurus opportunity to extract huge profit from the pains and pangs of the common man while making social services like education, health, pension, etc inaccessible to vast majority of the people. We have heard of cases of multinational telecom companies amassing billions of naira as profit in the country which dwarfed their profits elsewhere in the world, yet their services are inferior to even the remotest country in the world. This is the “gain” of neo-liberal reform.

It is also on record that the so-called privatization policy and its twin sister – deregulation, aside inflicting terrible injuries on the working people, have been enmeshed in brazen form of corruption. The example of Daily Times is striking where the politician businessmen who bought it sold one of its buildings to settle the debt used to buy up this once thriving media organization, and till date no single copy of Daily Time newspapers can be seen on the vendor’s stand. This is aside other open cases of big companies bought over by these same set of people in power. One then understand why just one percent of the population is amassing over 80 percent of the nation’s oil wealth. In a situation where the nation has got not less than $200 billion from oil since 1999 and yet the Niger Delta, where the huge oil wealth is made, continue to rot in poverty (forget the propaganda of NDDC which comprises of politicians and contractors), the education sector has collapsed, pensioners have to die on queue, medical services have either collapsed or inaccessible to the people, prisons have been overcrowded due to high crime rate, more young people (who should be contributing to the nation’s economy) are participating in lotteries, while many young people are dying for politicians. While all these are going on, one could hear from Transparency International that over $55 billion are stashed outside the country by corrupt military men and politicians, majority of whom are now in power or are planning to clinch it.

While many people have called for the removal of the president and /or his vice over the revelations of corruption, it is important to see issues beyond them. While both of them, in a desperate mood to safeguard their privileges and ill-gotten wealth, have exposed the rot in the presidency, it should be noted that none of the political structures – national and state assemblies, state governments, even judiciary – are different from those in the presidency, while those who want to take power also have been strategizing on how to loot treasury in grand style when they get to power. Therefore, any attempt to turn the present misfortune of the presidency to the fortune of the other section of the elite either by calling for the presidency dissolution or supporting one camp against the other, without providing a working class political alternative to take over the rein of government and change society, will spell doom for the working people who will be at the receiving end when they take power.

According to Fela in his popular song Suffer Head, he sang: “suffer head must go, jefa head (better life) must come”. Furthermore, he said “if we all have to jefa head, we must be ready to fight for am”. This is why the working people through their organizations at grassroots, state and national level, must organise along with other oppressed people like the pensioners, unemployed, peasants, market women, students, academia, etc and start to tackle this rotten government at all levels on issues that affect the working and poor people like campaign committees against privatization, retrenchment, casualization, commercialization, living wage and job, etc. Ultimately, they must be ready to form their own party which will champion these demands and endear itself to the poor people who are in the majority and are looking for alternative; and also struggle for power and make the wealth to be the common property of all as against the present IMF/World Bank/WTO inspired neo-liberal capitalism which have privatized the wealth of the country in the hands of the tiny few and their multinational backers. Great minds like Nyerere, Walter Rodney, Rahaman Babu, Frantz Fanon, Obafemi Awolowo, Bala Usman, Gani Fawehinmi*, and others have provided enough facts and essays on the rottenness of the society, and how easy society can be moved forward with our available resources. But it is unfortunate that our own Oshiomhole, who came to limelight as a result of his leadership role in the struggle against these neo-liberal policies, is now selling out the poor people because of power and privileges. Working people must beware of their leadership.

(*These names were only used as motivator to draw young but intellectual minds to the idea of change, and not a total acceptance of the programmes and ideas of these personalities, who are of course great minds worth exploring.)

2. CORRUPTION: NEED FOR A RADICAL WORKERS’ PARTY

The situation in the country now calls for a serious sober reflection. For anybody in doubt whether corruption has come to stay or not, with the revelations by the president, Olusegun Obasanjo and the vice president, Atiku Abubakar, reflecting how the national treasury is being mismanaged, such person must have a rethink. If there is anything realistic in this country, it is official corruption.

According to president Obasanjo, the vice president along with some political parasites has mismanaged over N3 billion PTDF fund (aside other hidden frauds involving the whole of presidency). On the other hand, the vice president has fingered the president in gamut of corruption in various projects. One thing is however clear, if there has not been internal crisis within the ranks of the ruling elite – presidency, PDP etc, all these facts would have been swept under the carpet. For instance, the president claimed that it was a tip off from a US Congressman, Jefferson since 2004 that instigated the probe against Atiku, but this is September 2006, more than two years after. It was glaring that the president was waiting for a favourable time to throw the missile. On the other hand, the vice president accepted that he is guilty but that he can not sink alone. On would have expected a vice president who is aspiring to become a president to have opened the cankerworm earlier before being exposed.

Moreover, it should be recalled that Auditor General’s report of 2001 was thrown to the trashcan by the president while the Auditor General himself was sacked for revealing the gargantuan fraud, bribery and misappropriation going on in the Presidency, which he termed as the most corrupt government structure. It is glaring that the so-called revelations by both President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku are ill-motivated, an unavoidable necessity meant to defend their privileged positions. With the revelations, even a hard-line cynic may be forced to agree that the two persons have reached their elastic limit and should be removed, lest they fracture the whole country, but a more principled appraisal will show that it is not only these two persons that are corrupt, rather the whole of the political structure – including the national and state assemblies, state and local governments, and even the judiciary – that have one way or the other perpetrated corruption, even officially. Examples of the furniture allowances to legislators and the misappropriation of over N350 billion shared as excess windfall in August 2005 are striking examples of how corruption has been institutionalized in the country.

Well-meaning people have called several times on the EFCC to probe the N17 billion Library Project of the president, which it has refused to do. Now, it has been revealed how politicians, banks and the so-called entrepreneurs have diverted public fund, meant for public good for selfish end. Those who donated the N17 billion are now been given contracts, political offices and other favour. For instance, those who donated money during the president’s reelection are now in Transcorp, buying up the whole country. (Transcorp bought various government properties and corporations like Hilton Hotels and oil blocks. Some other member of the Corporate Nigeria like Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Jimoh Buraimoh, Wale Babalakin have bought Benue Cement, African Petroleum, Airport respectively; while several others were given choosy contracts and appointments.) Other popular cases of open corruption like the over N200 billion spent on fictitious roads during Chief Tony Anenih reign as the Works Minister; the over N200 billion spent on NEPA rehabilitation which has yielded no light have not been probed while the over N100 billion spent on Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the NNPC – contracted out to Chief Emeka Offor, a personal friend to the president and his vice – has also not been probed. These are aside other brazen cases of fraud like the COJA, CHOGM projects etc in which the president, his vice and their political families have been fingered. Even, the salaries and emoluments of politicians smack off high level of corruption. For instance, the former finance minister, Okonjo Iweala who came to preach financial prudence collected N33 million (in dollars) as annual salary aside other emoluments. She even claimed to be sacrificing with this ‘moderate’ salary.

Also, the so-called privatization that is meant to reduce official corruption (according to its apostles) is now a veritable tool of perpetrating and perpetuating brazen corruption. Or what other name can one use to describe a situation in which the former Daily Times Ltd, bought by Folio Communication, could not produce a single edition of the newspaper a year after the privatization, and yet the company has sold out one of the properties (the Nigerian Stock Exchange building) of the Daily Times, to cover for the total cost of purchase of the newspaper company?! This is aside the fact that the company was sold for less than 20 percent of its original cost. Other cases like the Pentascope/NITEL management fraud, (where billions of naira were looted by management company, Pentascope, employed to manage the giant telecomm company. A national Assembly probe revealed in 2006 that Pentascope has no knowledge about telecommunication, but was awarded the management contract by the Nasir el Rufai-led Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) – agency supervising to privatize public properties), the Global Infrastructures, etc cases are being covered up by the Obasanjo’s government.

However, a point must be struck with all this terrible scenarios, and that is the fact that the political system is so structured as to continue to give power to the tiny clique to continue amassing wealth at public expense. While people are being killed in the creeks of Niger delta for demanding decent living, the money derived from the delta is being looted by the political elite. The same government that is commercializing and under funding education, health, claiming that there is not enough fund to properly fund them, has not found anything wrong in looting the nation’s treasury, awarding fictitious contract for politicians and its hangers-on. The same government that is sacking thousands of workers and underpaying them because “they are too bogus and costly” has not seen anything wrong in creating and duplicating political offices for its bootlickers and sycophants and paying them bogus salaries (senior special adviser, economic affair, finance minister, minister of state, special adviser, budget, and yet you have permanent secretary and officials of the finance ministry). The same government that is privatizing public utilities and corporations because “they are costly and money sapping” is selling out the same companies to private individuals (mostly, its political families/ business associates) at token fees while those same companies have provided little or no services for the people.

It is a public fact that if the public resources, running to over $200 billion since 1999, has been used to massively expand social services like schools, hospitals, mass and affordable housing schemes, roads, public recreation, etc and further expansion, renovation and rehabilitation of public owned corporations and industries under democratic management of all stakeholders,i.e. workers and consumer; coupled with reduction in inequality gap by reducing salaries of public officers, democratizing management of the economy under public scrutiny and increasing salaries of workers to meet the rate of inflation; more jobs would have been created to absorb tens of thousands of unemployed, poverty, corruption and public violence would have been reduced drastically. But can this set of corrupt, inept capitalist politicians, who are only interested in their pockets do this? The answer is obviously no.

Therefore, the onus lies on those who are suffering from the system, those who are creating the wealth – the Niger Deltans, industrial workers cum civil servants, peasant farmers, market women, students, unemployed, pensioners, etc. to come together and chart a genuine and progressive way out. These set of people, led by their leadership (especially of labour) must organize themselves not only for simple economic ends, but also for political power, by forming a radical workers’ party that will champion all the socio-economic demands of the oppressed people such as massive funding of social services like education, health, mass housing, agriculture, old age care, etc, job creation and job security with living decent pay, adequate pension, and massive investment in communication, technology research and development, among others. This party will also take back the stolen wealth of the country – monetary and physical. However, all of these lofty agenda can only be achieved when the economy is commonly owned by the society through nationalization of the commanding height of the economy under the democratic management of workers, peasants, etc organizing themselves in committees at industrial, local, state, sectoral and national levels. The wealth created rather than being held by tiny clique of powerful persons and their multinational masters under the present neo-liberal regime will be used for common good. Under such a party, public officers will earn average salaries of skilled workers and will be subject to recall by public referendum. Also, public decisions will be subject to alteration if the masses protest otherwise.

Such a party, when formed, will not limit itself to capturing power, but shall be the political vanguard for defending the interests of the oppressed people, along with the civil society and the workers’ organizations, by fighting against the devilish neo-liberal policies of mass retrenchment, casualization, commercialization of social services, corruption, etc. Through this, the party will be the immediate constituency of the oppressed people. The party must also be democratically organised from the grassroots and must be pan-Nigerian. With the formation of such a radical party, the political system will be radically changed from the present “chop-I-chop” system to an issue based, ideological politics. Without this, the mass of people will be forced to either align with one corrupt anti-poor politicians or the other. The onus lies on the genuine labour leaders (at all levels), pro-democracy activists, radical parties, progressive individuals, socialist organizations, students’ movement, peasant and youth organizations to come together and change the course of history. This is the only means of stopping these sets of corrupt politicians from turning our common heritage to their personal properties. Time to act is now!

3. ON RETRENCHMENT: PUNCH YOU ARE WRONG

My attention has been drawn to the recent anti-workers’ policy of retrenchment in public service. Various individuals and groups including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) leadership have made a lot of positions. In fact, in the editorial of the Saturday Punch, 5th November 2005, it was given another treat.

However, one is appalled by the inhuman reactions of some people and the incoherent argument of the NLC leadership as to the reasons why the workers must not be sacked. Let me first start with the position of some section of the media who believed that workers are the problems of the country. According to them, especially the Punch editorial, workers consume about 80% of the government funds and thus need to be pruned to allow for other capital projects to be done by the government. This they said would pay the workers because they also will enjoy from the resources provided by these projects, aside the emolument they will get from their disengagement from active service.

This view to say the least lack some veneer of intellectualism. One must ask these pundits what their own concept of labour is. To me, labour is a means of creating more wealth depending on who controls it. If it is the government, such labour serves the nation; if private firm uses it, it provides wealth for few individuals. While the editorial writer want us to believe that majority of the workers are redundant, it fails to tell us how a worker will be redundant if it has all the facilities to work upon. We have been told that there are drivers that have no work in the civil service. But, these drivers that were employed more than ten to thirty years ago had cars to drive then, but now, despite the fact that economy has expanded, and population increased, these drivers are paradoxically asked to quit; when in actual fact more drivers are needed. And when you observe critically, you will find out that many cars – heavy duty vehicles for supply and construction for public work, ambulance for hospitals, public transport system, etc, are needed to improve the economy, but such will and can not be purchased because “government has no business in the economy”. This scenario is replicated in other sections of the economy that are even more critical than driving. Rather than employ drivers for the real economy and development which the nation serious needed, drivers are employed for politicians, the same way a sizable proportion of the police (more than a quarter according to the police authority itself) are made personal body guards and gatemen for politicians and big business. What this points to is that workers are underutilized because government will not spend the public fund for public use. In a situation when you have enough engineers and technician in the works department that are idle because the projects have been given to contractors who employ few in order to gain more profits.

They tell us, in a fantastic manner how workers will prosper if they are disengaged and given entitlements (if it ever exists). However, in this age of imperialism, it is funny that someone will still expect a labourer disengaged from service to compete with already established businessmen without crumbling. Yet, fact emerging from our newspapers show us daily through various reports and researches how even big firms collapse in the face of rapidly failing infrastructures (many of whom government has claimed to have spent billions of naira upon) and low consumer patronage (no thanks to neo-liberal policies of fuel price hike, retrenchment etc,). I hope our pundits are not implying the retrenched workers to invest in politics.

In the real sense, what the government is doing is to reduce the money spent on the masses so as to make more money available for looting either directly or otherwise. This is where the argument of the NLC comes in, or how can one justify the N33 million spent annually on a Minister of Finance (Ngozi Iweala) that is asking us to tighten our belt for tomorrow. Her salary is enough to employ four workers for thirty years. This is aside other emoluments and services like free transport, allowances for oversea trips etc. At least we have heard of the N40 million bulletproof car for senate president. Yet, through duplication of office and compensation for campaign guys, many of her likes are produced – minister of state for finance, special adviser on economic planning, senior special adviser on poverty alleviation, special assistant on stock exchange, and yet you will still have permanent secretary and directors in the same ministry. All these elements will also have political staff all of whom are on bogus salaries that can employ several workers. When you add the money spent by government to maintain these parasites, you find out that it is more than the salaries of employed workers in public service.

On capital project, it is ironical that the same Nigerian media, including the Punch newspaper that supplies us with facts on how several billions are being wasted daily on ghost projects still want us to have illusion in government’s spending. At least we have heard of N100 billion NNPC Turn-Around Maintenance funds, over N200 billion on road contracts during Mr. Tony Anenih’s tenure, over N300 billion spent on elusive power generation, over N30 billion ID Card scam (while million have not had the card), Pentascope fraud, etc. These are few of the monies that have been misappropriated by government officials and their cronies many of whom are still in corridors of power. Are all these product of the workers’ redundancy? In fact, if workers have been adequately utilized with enough facilities to work upon, such money would have been judiciously used.

Despite huge money that have accrued to the country in the past five years running to over $60 billion, nothing tangible as been done to alleviate the suffering of the masses – job provision, massive funding of social services, establishment of capital industries, etc, yet government officials at all level continue to live in opulence. Just recently, over N300 billion was shared by all tiers of government but since then no improvement has come to the lives of the masses. And now, the federal government wants to compensate its imperialist masters by coughing out over $12 billion under a kangaroo debt reduction arrangement when facts are emerging daily showing in actual fact, that Nigeria and indeed African continent have paid more than twice for the same debt. This is aside selling out of the countries hard-earned industries and corporations to these multinational corporations at take away prices, in the name of privatization when in actual fact these private companies are looking for means to shortchange Nigeria via capital flight, retrenchment, etc.

All these are ignored by our pundits but rather paint the situation as if workers are the problems of the country’s economy. This is calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it. While one agrees with the argument of labour leadership on waste by politicians, but the issues are beyond this. Retrenchment in public service is just one of the attacks on the Nigerian working and toiling masses daily by the ruling capitalist governments at all levels. The retrenchment policy is one of the policies of the government as prescribed by the multi-lateral imperialist agencies – IMF/World Bank/WTO/G8, in order to further hand over the wealth of the nation – human and material – to the multinational corporations.

Other policies like privatization, commercialization, deregulation, trade liberalization, etc are all children of the neo-liberalism and neo-colonial capitalism which are meant to make the super-rich few to continue being rich at the expense of the working majority. This is graphically explained by the fact that just 1% of Nigerians control over 80% of the nation’s oil wealth while over 70% of Nigerians are wallowing in what the IMF called severe poverty. Yet, every year, Nigeria continue to experience huge trade imbalance and capital flight of over $10 billion thanks to the dominance of multinational corporations either directly or through their branches and middlemen in the country; and corrupt politicians. Therefore, the labour leadership must take the issue beyond waste by politicians-in-power both coherently and comprehensively by linking the opposition to retrenchment to other issues like privatization, commercialization, casualization, deregulation, etc, and making a practical political move to solve the problem via mobilization of the working masses for a continuous struggle to stop the government from this ruinous path.

To permanently resolve the crisis, the labour must be ready to confront this decadent capitalist system and fight for a system where public resources will be used for public use via nationalization of the economy under democratic control of working and toiling people, where all public officers will earn worker’s salary and will be subject to public recall whenever they falter on public good. Practically, the labour must join forces with all other progressive organizations to form a working people’s political platform with socialism boldly written on its burner, which will wrest power from these corrupt capitalist politicians and create an egalitarian, socialist society where people’s needs will form the basis of production, distribution and governance. Without this, barbarism may unfortunately prevail.

4. FUEL PRICES HIKE: WORKING PEOPLE REJECT THIS ONSLAUGHT

Written in August, 2008

Like a raging bird in a cage, the Yar’Adua government, after its perambulation about the rule of law, due process and undue populism, has been forced to come back to the ruinous, anti-poor policies of its predecessor. Finding no other way out within capitalist ideology, the new government was forced to bow before the ultimate economic neo-liberalism with its poisonous pills of deregulation, privatization and commercialization. For those still having illusion in the new Yar’Adua government, which is indeed an old wine in a new bottle, the new vexatious attempt to hike fuel prices again will reveal that there is no hiding place for it. According to media reports, the federal government has concluded all plans to hike fuel prices in a couple of weeks.

This hike if implemented will make live more miserable for the already impoverished Nigerians constituting more than 70 percent of the nation’s population. Transport fare will increase, the already costly basic food prices will sky-rocket, cost of living and services will increase while retrenchment and unemployment rate will rise as many low and medium scale companies – which rely on fuel for power generation no thanks to the epileptic PHCN – will either fold up or “rationalize” (an euphemism for cost cut and retrenchment). In short, working and toiling people of Nigeria will be worse for it. But a few clique will be better off – the rapacious oil marketers, (mostly politicians and their acolytes), the oil majors, the rent-seeking politicians and the political office holders (who will ask their financial advisors to invest in the lucrative business) and the unproductive banking sector which provide the financial backbone for this exploitative and parasitic arrangement that will suck the poor dry. These are the people who invested in the emergence of Yar’Adua through the unprecedented rigging spree called April 2007general election.

The traditional excuse of the ruling class is the increase in the global prices of crude oil but the same government fails to tell Nigerians what has been done to huge wealth accruing to the nation’s purse since 1999. Electricity is still virtually non-existent despite billions of dollars spent on new power plants and electrification with less than 30 percent Nigerians having access to the erratic power supply. This has made reliance of fuel for domestic and industrial power generation increase and thus lead to higher cost of living and collapse of industries. Free, functional education and effective health care are unavailable to millions of poor Nigerians as Nigeria is one of the countries with the poorest human development indices, yet the budget for debt servicing in the 2008 budget is more than the total budget for education and healthcare. Worse still, any request for salary increase by workers is met with stiff opposition from government yet over a billion naira was budgeted for salaries of national assembly members. Our roads have become mish-mash of archaic and semi-modern civilization while rail and water transportation have become elusive, which has placed enormous burden on road transportation as the only major means of communication and economic activities, thus making cost of production higher. Gone are the days when cheap, efficient and safe public road and rail transport systems provided transportation to millions of poor Nigerians. What then is the government using Nigeria’s huge oil wealth to do? What has happened to the hundreds of billions of naira that had accrued from the wind fall on crude oil sale for the past one year of Yar’Adua government? Why is government planning to continue Obasanjo’s borrowing spree while billions are lying fallow in Nigeria’s foreign account?

As against the claim by government that the amount being spent on subsidy is increasing, the Yar’Adua government is only looking for excuse to loot the nation’s wealth. While same government that claim not to have money to subsidize fuel prices is the one that will use the same argument to underfund the education while national assembly members are made instant millionaires. The same government that is ready to hand over N17 billion to oil marketers under the guise of oil subsidy could not use huge nation’s wealth to develop a sustainable energy system including massive state investment in oil refining. Despite spending a year in office, nothing tangible could be shown as improvement in the refineries as they still work less than 60 percent of refining capacity, while Nigerians as a whole have not faired better. About N100 billions wasted on turn around maintenance (TAM) which yielded no result during Obasanjo government has not been probed neither has the culprits being brought to book. Contrary to the believe of some commentators that it is too early to judge the government, but the same government has handed over more money to big business and the political class than improving the lot of the toiling millions who are wallowing in abject poverty. The reversal of the NNPC privatization is just media stunt has the company is being prepared for re-sale possibly to the previous buyers under new consortia. This refinery privatization will surely lead to further fuel prices increases through continued deregulation, under-utilization because no multinational is ready to sacrifice short-term profit for long-term investment of expanding the refineries in this period of global financial and investment instability. Then, we will be back to square one vis-à-vis collapse of industries and under-utilization, inflation, retrenchment and unemployment etc.

The Yar’Adua capitalist government cannot move the country forward because it is committed to ensuring unhindered and unchecked mega-profit for the big money bags, multinationals and banking sector, and the corrupt political class (who put him in office) at the expense of the teeming working masses of Nigeria who really create the wealth. This is being done through cut in social services spending, privatization of public utilities at rock bottom prices (for instance the recently sold Sheraton Hotels was sold at less than 10 percent of its original worth), and award of highly inflated contracts to political contractors while the public works departments are made redundant. While the working masses were groaning under huge electricity bill, the Yar’Adua government has increased the electricity tariff by over 100 percent while also handing over billions of naira to non-existent private investors under the guise of boosting private investment, yet billions of dollars wasted on power generation in the last nine years was siphoned by the same private investors (both local and foreign) in connivance with the corrupt political class.

Unless the workers’ movement – NLC, TUC, etc. mobilize its forces now to oppose this onslaught, this policy will be introduced. The Nigerian ruling class has the tactics of increasing the fuel prices beyond the planned increase so as to force the labour leadership to concede to the originally conceived increase. The labour movement must organise a “One Day” Warning Strike to force government to rescind the planned hike. Such warning strike will include mass mobilization and education, picketing, rallies, protest marches among other, which will show the strength of the working masses. Already the government has started propagandizing that labour leadership had agreed last year that fuel prices will not be hiked unless June this year. If this is true, it is condemnable and the labour leadership should repudiate such agreement. The basis for rejecting the fuel prices increase in the first instance is the attendant mass misery and poverty that will accompany it. Even now, the poor people are still groaning under huge fuel bills. How then can the one year suspension reverse this suffering the masses are going through? In fact, the labour leadership should have requested for a downward review of the hike since the living standard of the working millions has not improved since then.

In addition, the labour leadership (and its civil society coalition) must link this demand for reversal of the planned hike with other social demands of the working people including provision of free and functional education and effective health care system (free at the point of use); massive and secure job provision for millions of jobless Nigerians through public works – transport system (road, rail, water and air), public housing, rural development, communication system, potable water system, etc – massive industrialization (as against retrenchment); massive investment in poor peasant-based, mechanized and environmentally-friendly agricultural system; among others. These demands, even if implemented on a minimal basis, will lift millions out of poverty. These demands will also build a massive basis for the formation of a working people’s political party which will provide a better socio-economic system away from the current neo-liberal, neo-colonial capitalist arrangement. This party, built from among the rank-and-file working and poor people from local to national level and democratically controlled by them will put these programmatic demands on its front burner while also demanding the public ownership of the huge resources (human, material, natural and monetary) of the society in the hands of the working people. This will make the huge public resources being diverted to the pockets of the big business and moneybags available for funding the basic needs of the working and poor people who create the wealth but are enslaved by the capitalist system.

This party is most important at this time when the capitalist governments at all levels have shown that their interest is to make the already super-rich one percent of the population richer while the toiling millions continue to wallow in abject poverty. Despite the untold hardship the hike in fuel prices is causing the majority of the poor people, the ruling class is not ready to stop this onslaught. For more than seven times, fuel prices have been increased against the wish of the common man; this again knocks a big hole in the so-called democracy being practiced in this country. To the capitalist ruling class, democracy stops where capitalist profit is challenged. Only a working and poor people participation in politics through their own party can lay the basis for a genuine democracy. The labour leadership must stop its ruinous strategic partnership with the Yar’Adua government, which in all intent and purposes is not ready to move the country forward in the interests of the toiling millions. The labour leadership and the pro-labour, pro-democracy groups must recognize this historic reality.

5. Motorcycle Helmet Enforcement: A Sign of Governance in Disarray

Written in December, 2008

* The article was targeted towards the January 1, 2009 deadline but was published from 2nd January onwards by print and online media (more than 10 of them, both local and international).

By the time this article is published, the ill-fated policy of the federal government/Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) should have started taking its tolls on the poor people of Nigeria. The latest policy of the FRSC on the compulsory use of motorcycle helmet by riders and passengers alike come January 1, 2009 is nothing but a reflection of the high level of intellectual disconnect in governance in Nigeria. To the FRSC, the policy is meant to safeguard lives. This argument in the first is totally outlandish because no fact has been adduced by FRSC that major motorbike accidents leading to deaths are caused mainly by head injury. Limiting accidents to head injury alone shows crisis of governance in Nigerian. (This however is not meant to under-estimate the value of crash helmet to motorcycle riders and their passengers, but an attempt to try to limit motor-cycle accident accidents to use of crash helmet alone without addressing all other form of accident and their cause is ridiculous. For instance, accident can also lead to break of neck, injury to chest, shock, blood clot, etc, all of which can lead to death and/or loss of body part. Worse still, the FRSC was focused on criminalizing motorcycle users rather than address accident prevention from a holistic point, especially as it concerns government’s irresponsibility). Common sense demand that government should have liaise with motorcyclists through their associations and resolve all issues concerning the use of crash helmet, even if it believes that that is the only way to mitigate road accident.**

While motorbike may not be for commercial purpose alone, the reality however is that majority of motorbike riders are commercial, many of whom are poor peasants (who could not survive in the farms as a result of lack of accessible roads, storage facilities, fertilizers, etc); artisans (who are daily driven to unemployment as a result lack of patronage, power failure, registration fees, poverty, etc); unemployed graduates; retrenched workers; etc, many of whom even got the motorbike on lease or at second hand rate. A careful study will reveal that a significant proportion of those in motorcycle transport business are either youths, who are supposed to be in school or contributing to national growth but pushed to this life-risking job; or old people who are as old as 60 years, mostly using their old motorbikes to survive the economic downturn. And these folks (both young and old) feed their families with this business.

Under these scenarios, the policy is nothing but another attack on the poor people. The FRSC has not informed us whether they have done a full investigation into how many of the motorbike riders (either for commercial or private use) have helmets, and if they do not have, is the government providing them with new ones free of charge? Or do the FRSC expects the motorbike riders to go to the black market to get helmets, the same way Nigerians get fuel, water, electricity, fertilizers, etc? Do the FRSC, Customs and the government know that several motorbikes are imported daily into the country without safety facilities? Where do the FRSC expect motorbike riders to get extra helmets for their passengers when government did not establish a helmet manufacturing company but rather looked the other way when motorbike without safety facilities were imported to the country. (It was later discovered that several crash helmets were sold or given to motorcycle users by some business organizations, government (especially local government), politicians and organizations. Where are the motorcycles for which the helmets were produced? Or were the helmets produced solely for the policy? This confirms the assertion that thousands of motorcycles were sold without helmets. But the government/FRSC was not ready to probe into this. This is not unexpected as a sincere probe of this will open a cankerworm of rot in various government agencies – FRSC, Custom Service, importers, etc, which can pitch the government against its moneybag backers).

Has the government and FRSC looked at the health implication of several persons using the same helmet or is the government planning to give every citizen a helmet each and when? From the sordid nature in which this policy was pushed forward, it is clear that the immediate answers to these questions are in the negative. It is worth stating that commercial motorbike business is only a product of the decaying state of the nation’s transport system. The Okada business arose as a result of the rotten state of the nation’s roads which has made many vehicles avoid intra-city/town and street roads; and the failure of organized public transport system. The same way the railway system was destroyed only for the heavy-duty vehicles with their huge weights to take over the roads leading to over-crowding of the roads, destruction of fragile road layout and causing unmitigated accidents. The grinding poverty and joblessness only fueled this rottenness into the current “booming” motorbike business while importers (who import the motorcycles and hoards the safety helmets) and their government collaborators continue to lick the cream. It is this kind of misnomer that the Nigerian government and the FRSC want to “normalize” with this kind of helmet policy.

Very unfortunately, FRSC like every other sycophantic government agency, is not ready to expose the failure of its paymasters and demand infrastructural development vis-à-vis massive road rehabilitation and construction, and organized public transport system as a condition for accident-free society. It is not uncommon to hear FRSC officials condemning people selling goods along roadsides but keep mum on government that collects taxes and levies from these people without building appropriate market facilities. As terrible and corrupt as the military regimes were, they set up cheap and time-bound public transport schemes that worked for some times before their graft tendencies killed it. The civilian regimes that took over only sold the better parts of the public transport remnants to themselves. Rather than embark on massive and integrated road projects and provide organized and cheap public transport which would have directly employed thousands of young graduates, artisans, etc, which will ensure safe transportation, the civilian politicians prefer to buy motorbikes for a handful of youth and few buses (with inscription of governor’s or council chairman’s name) for commercial drivers’ associations, as patronage for votes.

The new helmet policy of the FRSC and the Yar’Adua government has little to do with the basic cause of road accidents. In actual fact, it is an unscientific attempt to reduce the impact of accident injuries and not mitigate them. Like the earlier Senate three-on-a-bus-seat policy, the current policy will resolve nothing but lead to mere failure and more hardship for those already struggling for survival. (This was the policy ordered by the Nigerian senate, as a way of reducing the number of accident victims in a bus (not to mitigate accidents)! While in the real sense, there is need to reduce over-loading of bus, without governments’ direct management of transport system, this policy was bound to fail and it actually failed. For instance, the cost of fuel has made several bus operators resort to shortcuts including fare hike, over-speeding, and direct flouting of the order by majority of the bus operator. FRSC report has not shown any reduction of accident on the account of this policy.) The current policy is ill-advised, ill-prepared and ill-conceived; it only wants to place the burden of government’s irresponsibility and failure on people. Several investigations have revealed that it is breakdown of infrastructural facilities and the dwindling national economy (which created a desperate citizenry) that are major causes behind the incessant road accidents. A government that places the transport of the citizens in the anarchical arrangement of individualistic transport system where poor and economically frustrated people, who are using every avenue to survive in-between penury and misery, is nothing but useless. While governments at all levels care less about public transport, the same government imposes obnoxious fuel prices and taxes in defence of the big business and looting classes, making poor people fall deeper into bottomless pit of penury and wretchedness. Some state governments that claim to be running public transport are only practising advanced level of anarchical individualistic transport system, and only serve as another tag for public robbery. For instance, a state government that claims to be running public transport, will hand over such business to big transport companies (mostly owned by politicians in power or their acolytes) and big banks (who loan out the money for the business at exorbitant interest rates), and create artificial market for this business by clearing away the poor commercial operators from roads. The end result will be overpriced but insufficient transport arrangement. Some other state governments simply buy some few busses to its state-run transport service, which hardly cater for less than 0.1 percent of the traveling population. Worse still, the transport fares are unnecessarily exorbitant. Lunching

The immediate result of the current helmet policy, if it ever sees the light of the day, will be denial of the poor commercial operators and their dependants, means of livelihood as most of them will find it hard to get other jobs. This will further engender more crimes – both petty and big-time – while poverty will dwell the land the more and in the absence of alternative structures mobilizing people for a change, social tensions through religious, ethnic and communal strife will take charge. (Reports coming from states revealed several protests and violent clashes between motorcyclists and FRSC officers.) On the other hand, the transport crisis including the alarming rates of accidents, will never cease as there will more pressure on the remaining and ever-shrinking transport facilities. This in itself is enough to cause serious social tension. The policy of helmet enforcement will in the least lead to extortion of poor commercial operators by law enforcement agents who will only use the situation to solve their immediate economic needs.

What society need is a massive public works including integrated, organized and cheap public transport system in care of government and not private individuals. An integrated transport system will mean safe, environmentally-friendly road network and cheap public transport service, rail, water and air transport systems which will be undertaken by governments at all levels and not the elusive and ineffectual private investment. This kind of public transport system, coupled with massive public works – massive building and equipping of schools (and provision of free and quality education at all levels); adequate and well-equipped health system (and free health care at the point of use); cheap public housing; potable water system; integrated and environmentally-friendly energy system (hydro, solar, wind, tidal and nuclear); poor-peasant-based, mechanized and environmentally-friendly agricultural system; etc – will provide work for millions of young and old people who are forced to undertake many life-risking jobs like motorbike business, (and those already unemployed or underemployed) and practically make live worthwhile for majority of the population unlike the current situation where only a tiny few of the population who find themselves at the top echelon of the social ladder enjoy living. This is the sensible way to end the chaotic motorbike business to the advantage of those forced to do the job and the society in the long run.

With the unprecedented natural, mineral, human in the country coupled with the monetary resources at the disposal of government, running to almost $250 billion, Nigeria can have all these facilities without tears, if these resources are democratically and judiciously used in the interest of the poor and not for big business and political contractors. However, with corruption and neo-liberal capitalism prevailing, this will be elusive. In a country where a government that claim to be committed to anti-corruption spent over N1.24 trillion throughout the country to pay politicians at all levels in 2008, with the least paid councilor collecting more than ten times the least paid worker. What then is corruption! In a country where federal government only commits less than N40 billion capital votes for dilapidated education sector, but sees nothing wrong in spending tens of billion of naira to implement a new 15 percent salary increase for politicians in the 2009 budget; a country where for every naira budgeted for public facilities less than twenty (20) kobo actually get spent while the rest go to political patrons, political contractors and undefined experts; a country where private interests of politicians in power and their acolytes are more vital than that of the poor majority; such a country cannot advance development for the people. Worst still, the country seems to be under official siege as most public pundits always look for sense in every government’s abnormal policy. Policies are no more seen in their long term effects but by the immediate stunt they create; even the media prefer to allow sycophancy in their publications rather than promote radical views calling for a total overhaul of the unequal capitalist socio-economic system. The other time, one bootlicker of the federal government and the law school management demanded my arrest for calling his paymasters to question over the arbitrary and nefarious hike of fees (by over 100 percent) in the nation’s law schools without considering the pervasive poverty in the land. All this are only a manifestation of the lack of viable opposition that will mobilize people for a genuine social change.

The mainstream opposition parties are only the other side of neo-liberal and corrupt governance in Nigeria, even advocating more privatization and commercialization of everything including roads. Only a mass democratic, socialist-oriented working class political alternative that will galvanize the poor, working people and the youth across ethnic, religious and creed lines, and put governments at all levels on their toes, can create the much-needed change. Such party will rely on the mass of people for its policies, finances, administration and initiatives and thus will have moral authority to wrest power from the hands of the corrupt neo-liberal capitalist politicians at all levels, and create a government that will nationalize public resources under the democratic control of the people at all levels, for the massive development of the country; rather than for the profit interest of the tiny rich few. Such a party will ensure that public officers will collect salary of skilled worker, attend public hospitals while their children and family will go to public schools and use public transport. This is the long term conclusion that must be drawn from this helmet madness of a gutless government. As the central labour unions’ demand for N55, 000 minimum wage, they must link this with massive job creation by governments through massive public work programme and nationalization of the economy. These demands should be followed up by practical actions that will mobilize other oppressed people for these demands and link this with the need for an alternative political platform.

*There were several responses to this article both on cell phones and internet. One of these questioned the assertion that ‘Limiting accidents to head injury alone shows crisis of governance in Nigerian.’ However, most of the responses were positive towards the article.

6. Still on Motorcycle Crash Helmet enforcement: A Call for Action

Written in February, 2009

Despite all attempts by the government’s propaganda agencies and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to rationalize the absurd policy of helmet usages for all motorcyclists, starting from January 1, 2009, the policy is bound to hit a brick wall in the least but serious social crisis if unopposed. Already, according to newspapers’ reports, the FRSC, in collusion with other law enforcement agencies, have started arresting motorcyclists. In Abuja, over 200 motorcycle riders have been arrested while 50 have also been arrested in Osogbo, Osun State. The FRSC in Osogbo demanded N2000 as fine from these poor Nigerians, but where is the money going to? From the available information, most of those affected by these arrests are mostly commercial operators. This is not unexpected. It is possible for private motorcycle owners to abandon their motorcycles in order to avoid any bruise with the law enforcement agents, but can commercial operators, who joined this trade because of the collapse of their previous trades.

From this reality, social tension is building up unless the commercial motorcyclist (Okada) associations, in conjunction with the civil society and labour build a viable opposition to this obnoxious policy and on the other hand provide a viable alternative linked with the overall development of the country. We should not wait until another Jos crisis occurs before we halt this lunacy in governance. A sane government will ask itself why motorcycle owners/riders whose lives are to be saved with crash helmets need to be forced before using the helmet for their own safety. A genuine examination will show that it is a clear case of poverty that make a poor man visit an herbalist when he knows that functional solution is in the hospital. This is a case of economics of scale: it is better to be faced with one ailment than being faced with chronic hunger and the ailment at the same time. Thus a poor man decides to live by chance and use its meagre income to resolve immediate hunger than ‘waste’ it on helmet. This is the choice most Nigerians are forced to take daily despite terrible result to their survival.

The argument that usage of helmet will reduce accident rates and impact is in the least preposterous and unscientific. What actually causes accident is the poor transport infrastructure and lack of organized transport system. The rise of motorcycle transport system in the first instance is the failure of government at all levels to ensure adequate motor-able roads in the country making many vehicles to avoid local roads and even major roads and highways. Therefore, a responsible government is expected to resolve the disturbing rate of road accidents caused by the chaotic and archaic transport system by embarking on a national plan for massive transport infrastructural development that will be set through a national summit of the genuinely affected people – commercial transport associations including the commercial motorcycle riders’ association, trade unions, civil society, professional groups and individuals and general public. The national plan will mean massive government investment in road rehabilitation and construction (down to the rural level) coupled with integration of developed and environmentally-friendly transport systems (water, rail, road and air). Furthermore, with a massive public work programme vis-à-vis massive building and equipping of schools (and provision of free and quality education at all levels); adequate and well-equipped free health system; cheap public housing; potable water system; integrated and environmentally-friendly energy system (hydro, solar, wind, tidal and nuclear); poor-peasant-based, mechanized and environmentally-friendly agricultural system; etc, which will provide work for millions of young and older people who are forced to undertake many life-risking jobs like motorbike business, it will be easier to reduce accidents and also make lives better for the poor. Even a government funded integrated transport system can employ thousands of unemployed including poor income commercial motorcycle transport operators.

Rather than do this, the federal government and FRSC – in collusion with elitist and pro-ruling class media and state governments who have kept mum on this issue – are only interested in justifying and rationalizing their irresponsibility with this ill-conceived, ill-motivated and definitely ill-fated policy. The immediate result of this policy will be extortion of poor motorcyclists (both commercial and private), who either earn their living or subsidize their abysmal living standard with their motorbikes. Furthermore, this will lead to denial of tens of thousand of youth and family breadwinners, who are pushed to the commercial motorcycle business in the first place by poverty and unemployment (for which governments are culpable). The health implication of this policy is another terrible consequence for motorcyclists and passengers. It is worth asking that where the government was when motorcycles without safety measure were brought to the country. Where does the government/FRSC expect the motorcyclists to get the elusive crash helmets (forget the television propaganda): are they expecting them to go to the black markets to get the helmets, the same way they get food, electricity, fuel, education, etc? Or is the government providing free helmets for millions of poor Nigerians who patronize motorcycle daily? These are pertinent questions a sensible government must answer.

It is high time the commercial motorcyclists’ associations started mobilizing their members against this abnormal policy through public actions. They must reach out to the market men and women, students’ movement, etc, while labour movement must also work with other oppressed people to demand a public transport system and massive public work that will provide jobs for teeming millions and not make criminals out of poor and hapless Nigerians. This is the only way to mitigate social unrest and tension this nefarious policy will lead to in the coming period as many poor motorcyclists will be forced to resist the policy aftermath, or become social nuisance after losing their means of livelihood without any prospect of alternative. Nigeria has enormous resources to provide for the basic needs of everybody only if the rotten neo-liberal, capitalist system that prioritizes the profit and comfort of a rich one-percent at the expense of the teeming working poor is thrown overboard. The leadership of labour movement itself must shed the toga of self-inflicted lethargy by demanding democratic and judicious usage of Nigeria’s foreign reserve which is currently at the service of the parasitic foreign capitalist financial sharks – and other resources – for the massive development of the country through public work and state-run industrialization. They must also build a pan-Nigerian socialist-oriented mass working people’s political alternative to the rot called neo-colonial governance in Nigeria.

7. Re-Deregulating Robbery in Nigeria

Written in May, 2009

Ile-Ife, Nigeria: “why do you transporters exploit the poor in the name of fuel price hike?”, a passenger complained.

“Why do you talk about transporters alone? What about foodstuff sellers? Price of Garri has increased by over 50 percent in the past 5 months; why didn’t you condemn those sellers?” the driver replied.

“But they are also reacting to your incessant fare hike?” the passenger retorted.

“But I’m also a victim. I also buy those goods. See, I paid over N15, 000 for various ridiculous registrations to the state government. I bought a liter of petrol at night at N120 per litre. In fact, it was war. At one place, young men used cutlass to settle fights at filling station while a head was broken in another today,” The driver explained.

“But must you ply the road at all cost?” another passenger queried.

“You want me to take to robbery at my age?” the driver replied…

Current Bosses’ Sabotage and Re-deregulation

The current fuel scarcity clearly manifests the treachery of the government’s fuel price deregulation policy. Despite government’s cover-up on the current fuel scarcity, media reports have fingered oil marketers in what can be termed bosses’ sabotage – an attempt to force deregulation and price increase on the people. While many media organizations were quick to condemn tanker drivers for protesting against extortion by Lagos State government in the guise of maintaining law, hardly is anyone condemning oil marketers’ sabotage in defence of fraudulent profit. Yar’Adua government is ready to allow these oil marketers free reign in exploiting the country. To government, deregulation is necessary because the subsidy on fuel pricing has led to huge corruption and looting of the treasury by unnamed people. How many of these public looters have been probed or prosecuted? None! What an irony: an “anti-corruption” government succumbing to the superiority of gangsters. Actually this irony only reflects the character of every capitalist state, which in defence of big business, will violate its own rules and use every illogic to justify its somersault.

The argument of Yar’Adua government in justifying deregulation is a continuation of the old worn-out excuses. The excuse of the Obasanjo government for incessant increase in fuel prices is that government is spending tens of billions on fuel subsidy; therefore the poor people must bear the brunt through fuel price hike. Yar’Adua government has only stepped this up by exposing that the subsidies have only gone to the sharks in big oil marketing business and government. But, what are government’s alternatives to this obviously maddening scenario painted by the government itself: arrest the looters? Stop the financial hemorrhaging of the nation? Obviously not – but making the people direct victims of the looting: more deregulation.

According to Nigeria’s leading bourgeois economist, Prof. Sam Aluko, oil marketers make at least $160,000 on a ship-load of refined fuel to this country. This is aside profit to be made by shipping companies and private port managers, among other sundry charges that will add up to extra 40 percent of fuel cost. With the country’s refineries working at less than a third of its capacity, Nigerian government has already privatized fuel production and deregulated its importation, while only using public resources to subsidize the profit of the oil marketers. Therefore, the latest attempt is only a re-deregulation of this obvious robbery. In the “subsidy” deregulation system, the Nigerian government use public resources meant for the development of social infrastructures to service the profit interests of fuel marketers, their bank creditors, shipping companies, private port managers, etc. In the planned re-deregulation, the poor people are to directly bleed out billions in profit for these fat-cats while government also doles out billions through other means to these fat cats.

Private Refinery: Sheer Mirage

Worse still, whenever there is crisis for oil importers, government will immediately intervene on their behalf (tax break, special offer, price flexibility, cheap credit, etc) the same way that it fixed the price of petrol at N65, even when crude oil price has necessitated a decrease of petrol prices to about N50. Therefore, the planned re-deregulation is a cover to protect profit. Some have argued that ultra-deregulation will ‘encourage’ private investment in oil refining. But, funny enough, while tens of big businesses were given licences by past Obasanjo government to build private refineries, these rapacious big businesses have converted these into licence to import refined fuel, no thanks to the connivance by the pro-capital Obasanjo government. In fact, Shell Nig. Plc, Nigeria’s biggest multinational oil company, while excusing itself from investment in oil refining claimed that it will cost around $2 billion to build a refinery. How many local investors can commit this amount to a long term project like refining?

The main reason why these oil companies (both local and international) will not build refinery is simply the fact that they depend on short term profits and not long-term investment that will tie down their capital. This explains why the financial sector of world capitalism overtook the industrial sector (in US, manufacturing share of GDP fell from 25% to 12% while financial share increased from 12% to 20.5% from 1973-2008), which led to the current global economic crisis that has foreclosed any tangible investment especially in the third world in the near period. Nigeria’s case is worsened by the terrible state of the nation’s infrastructures which has made investment in the country costly. Nigerian capitalists are parasitic, who like their Russian counterparts, only mushroom on the decays of mismanaged national economy. They are the beneficiary of government’s hand out of public resources to private hands – privatization of public corporations/oil wells, commercialization of social services, official corruption cum nepotism, etc. They only care about how to sustain this arrangement. This is why they will prefer to buy the nation’s refineries, cement companies, telecomm companies, oil wells, etc at token where they can easily sell their estates to make quick profits. Therefore, the likes of Adams Oshiomhole, (a former labour leader) who want oil refineries to be sold should stop deluding themselves; no tangible investment can come from these fat-cats.

Can Private Refinery Resolve Energy Crisis?

However, assuming without conceding that private individuals invest in oil refining, as is being hoped by some pundits, can this alleviate the suffering of Nigerians? In the first instance, the refining will be hijacked by a clique as most of these moneybags can hardly bear the risk alone thus leading to formation of cartel and monopoly – the example of NNPC privatization in 2007 where a cartel of big companies, banks and foreign firms (as technical partners) under the name Blue Star Consortium bid to buy part of NNPC at fraction of its value is instructive. Thus, the question of competition and consequent price reduction is out of it as demand and supply will be manipulated for price increase. Moreover, these companies (both local and foreign or both) will have to provide their own power, transport system, etc, as the nation’s infrastructures are dilapidated, which will bear on the cost and availability of the products. Furthermore, multinationals will have to hike prices to meet international profit level. A useful example is the deregulation of the telecomm industry, where private telecomm companies hiked their tariffs to multiples of international tariff in the guise of covering cost, yet, one of these companies (MTN) in 2002 had profit of N55 billion which is worth more than profit of the whole insurance industry.

Of course, import charges may be reduced or removed; the reality is that such monies will find their way back to the profit of these companies through increase cost, government incentives and widespread corruption. The fact that despite over $280 billion that has accrued to the nation’s coffer has resulted in little or no improvement in the living standard of average Nigerian while big businesses, banks, politicians, etc continue to multiply in values, speaks volume of the class the nation’s resources serve. In fact, the so-called private sector cannot even refine up to a quarter of the nation’s oil, even if the country’s refineries are sold to them. This is evidently clear; while NNPC, despite its size and resources could only refine less than 50 percent of the local petrol demand of 30 million liters, and it took many big companies a merger to attempt at buying part of NNPC, then where are the so-called private investors.If at all private refineries are built, I’m more than convinced that their only consumer will be Nigerian government which has been budgeting billions for fueling generators and cars every year (over N900 million in the 2009 federal government budget alone was budgeted for fueling generators). At least this is a way of encouraging private investment!

Labour’s limited opposition to deregulation

In a statement by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) – the central fighting bulwark against deregulation, it tasked government to, in the immediate refine petroleum products from neighbouring countries (so as to reduce landing cost) and then start the process of building new refineries. This may sound pragmatic, but it is clearly unrealistic. This NLC’s position fails to take into cognizance, the political economy of Nigerian ruling class. It assumed that the government is acting independent of big business. The question we must ask is: who will import and distribute the refined fuel? The demand for building of more refineries is correct but limited. The labour movement must be aware that many of the Nigerian politicians at all levels are directly linked up with the business class. If at all Nigerian government commit itself to building new refineries it will result from either government’s intervention to restore oil oligarchs’ falling profitability or a product of intense mass political struggle which tend to overturn the profit system they benefit from.

The labour union also stated that it is opposed to privatization of the refineries unless “it is necessary and transparent”. The question is what determines the necessity of privatization, and what transparency is needed for a policy that is in itself robbery of the whole country by a tiny clique? If NLC believes that privatization leads to worsening living standard; why then must it be necessary in any form? Comically, the same government that failed to probe into hundreds of billions wasted on refurbishing the country’s refineries, aside unaccounted-for billions of revenue, is now planning to privatize the refineries to their plunderers, in the name of encouraging private sector.

A case for democratic Public Ownership

Without working class movement, through organised mass political movements, opposing not only deregulation but on the other hand demanding public ownership of the oil industry under democratically elected representative of working people and consumers’ organizations, building new refineries will become another conduit pipe for massive looting of public treasury, collapse of these refineries (through nepotistic and corrupt managements) and their eventual privatization. This demand for public ownership of the oil industry which will draw up the plan of building new refineries on sustainable basis will also need to be linked with developing other sectors of the economy. This will require public ownership of the commanding height of the economy in order for the planning to be meaningful. The tens of billions of dollars in the nation’s foreign account will be used to undertake a long term development of all sectors of the economy and sustainable power and energy system that will safeguard the environment on a long term basis. This will means among others, free, quality, massively funded and democratically-run education and healthcare system, provision of employment for all able bodied citizen, efficient social infrastructures – cheap, efficient and environment friendly transport system (road, water, rail and air), communication system, energy system (electricity and fuel supply), mechanized and poor-peasant-oriented agriculture, potable water, public housing and massive industrialization.

For a new social order

The rot in the oil industry is also glaring in other sectors of the economy – social services, power generation, industrial sector, etc. Despite current economic crisis which has shown the bankruptcy of the so-called private sector and indeed the capitalist system, Nigeria’s and third world ruling classes still believe that they can use public resources to entice big business to develop their economy. This reflects the weakness and parasitic nature of local political class. So, the working class movement must understand that deregulation cannot be achieved by appealing to Yar’Adua government or to any other state government. It needs political struggle which must start with building a mass organization of the working people that will combine economic struggle for job creation, N52, 200 wage without retrenchment, massive funding of education, healthcare, etc, with the political struggle to take over governance (through mass campaign and enlightenment, rallies, protests, pickets and strikes). The labour movement needs to call an immediate summit of all working people’s organizations, pro-poor organizations, student/youth movements, peasants/market women organizations, socialist movements, leftwing political parties, self-determination groups, etc to draw up plans of building a radical mass working people’s political platform that will champion the struggles. Such platform while it is built from the grassroots will have to adopt a revolutionary democratic socialist stand against the degenerate social democracy, that has been absorbed by neo-liberal capitalism.

A genuine socialist system will combine nationalized economy with workers’ democracy (as against monstrous bureaucracy of Stalinism that collapsed the nationalized economy of Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in the 1990’s) while taking an internationalist outlook as a nationalized economy cannot operate in isolation. A successful movement of the working people in Nigeria will resonate all over the world. This is the lesson for the labour movement and the pro-working people organizations and activists.

8. Nigeria’s bank crisis and the limit of Sanusi’s capitalist reforms

Written in November, 2009

So much have been written about the Nigeria’s bank crisis and the ‘surgical’ operations being carried out by the capitalist financial spin doctors, led by the Central Bank governor, Lamido Sanusi. Revelations of crass swindles by the then “larger-than-life” bank executives have generated bank ss fraud Nigerian bankingmuch angst against these ex-bank hawks who lived like Shakespearean Shylock. While they lived opulently on shareholders’ wealth, country folks continue to live in unending misery spiced with chronic unemployment and underemployment. It is not uncommon months ago to see our self-styled ‘enterprising’ students and youths with multi-media gadgets, listening to the ‘sacred’ messages of our entrepreneurial gurus in the banks’ exquisite boardrooms. Today, they earn the opprobrium of even their ex-fans. This explains why the Lamido Sanusi’s reform pills have at the beginning, gained support from a sizable section of the populace. To the market-women and men, the revelation about billions squandered and looted again brings out their anger and frustration about the state of the nation. However, without a careful analysis, and the labour movement taking revolutionary position, the working class will be victim of another vicious cycle of capitalist crisis of plundering.

While the Sanusi reform has gulped over 620 billion naira (N), about $4.2 billion (which is being placed in the vaults of the affected 10 banks as lifeline), there is already planned massive retrenchment of more than a quarter of bank workers in months to come, according to newspapers’ reports. This is an attempt to put the blame of the frauds of capitalist class on the working people. Before you say Jack Robinson, several business concerns in manufacturing, services, other financial institutions, etc. – many of which are directly or indirectly involved in the bank crisis – will follow this vicious route. Ironically, the so-called N620 billion-worth reform has not reflected in improved labour practices of the banks, a situation that has seen bank and financial workers not only overexploited but also subjected serious risks and uncertainty of job. Is the Christmas gifts of N620 billion from CBN and government’s N200 billion not justifying this? Otherwise, how will CBN and government give out close to a trillion naira to 14 banks without being concerned about working conditions of bank workers? Tactically, Mr. Sanusi has given licence to bank managements to sack workers under the guise of closing down ‘unproductive’ branches.

Despite all propaganda about the Sanusi reform, it is clear that it is just like building a skyscraper on a quicksand foundation – the bigger and costlier the structure, the greater the loss and despair that will accompany its collapse. The current reform is just an extension of the Soludo’s (former CBN governor) reform which laid the basis for the current crisis. It will be recalled that just like Soludo’s consolidation and Sanusi’s reform, the Abacha’s bank tribunal (in 1995) before it had also tried to scapegoat fraudulent bank bureaucrats in an economy enmeshed in con and decay. Not funny enough, many bank spin doctors, who did the dirty jobs or indicted during the Sani Abacha era are today in big business and political power. (For instance, the education minister, Dr. Sam Egwu (who was also a former two-term governor in a south-east state of Imo), aside others, was part of those indicted during the Abacha-era bank tribunal.) So, do not be surprised when those currently being prosecuted among bankers become policy makers tomorrow.

The Soludo bank consolidation (merger) reform was so-called predicated on making Nigerian banks strong enough with adequate capital base to fund economic development while encouraging ‘global best practices’. But at the end of the day, the reform was nothing short of massive fraud. In truth, the Nigeria’s pre-consolidation 89 banks could hardly withstand any adverse effect of risks. But, the character of Nigerian banks reflects the nature of the economy, which depends on importation of semi- and finished goods, export of raw materials, totally dilapidated infrastructures, uneducated population, etc. This has meant recurrent unemployment and the attendant mass poverty of over 70 percent which leads to abysmally low purchasing power. This will reflect in the rate of activities of the banks and their shareholder/customer base. To expect Nigerian banks to be more sophisticated than its economy will be daydreaming or putting perfume over rot. But these 89 banks, in search of quick, super-profits, invested in speculative and unproductive activities – stock market manipulation, foreign exchange deals, money laundering for corrupt politicians, loans to elitist service businesses, etc. all of which produce no new wealth but recycle the already made wealth from the poor to the rich few.

But Soludo’s CBN and the government, rather than stop this horrible drift, preferred to embolden the rapacious profiteers. Rather than expand public and social infrastructures and massively invest in manufacturing, using huge public resources, Soludo and the Obasanjo government, in collusion with capitalist/imperialist multilateral vampires and local big business, expanded the reigning but ruining order by asserting by fiat, merger of banks. This in itself, despite Obasanjo government’s capitalist ideological commitment, was against the free market ideology that proclaims free competition. But the government was only interested in creating new set of global mega billionaires, who will be the basis of measuring the country’s GDP and economic growth.

They knew too well that massive investment in social and public infrastructure will reduce money to be gambled upon by the looting class, while multinational vampires and their international strategists (IMF/World Bank, etc) will have little access to cheap wealth. They knew that it will be a class suicide to implement social programmes that will mean taxing the rich who have amassed huge wealth from the public till. (If public infrastructures like roads, waterways, rail systems, cheap and public housing, state farms, hospitals and school, are sincerely investment, how will politicians who consume over a trillion naira as salaries how enough to splash around how will banks have access to looted funds (from over-bloated contracts and ghost projects) and cheap profit.) So they preferred to create a shortcut for economic growth by handing over public wealth to a rich few.

After the consolidation, billions of dollars accruing from crude oil sale were handed over to these business shylocks. Money were given out to these banks to manage by the government through various intervention programmes like agriculture loans funds; introduction of dubious extortionate policies like contributory pension (which generated over one trillion naira as at early 2009) and monetization policy for workers; keeping public fund in private banks; etc. While government pays charges to these banks for these activities, the same government through the CBN will borrow the same monies from banks through issuing of short term bond papers and treasury bills at exorbitant interest of up to 15 percent. Meanwhile, CBN’s monetary policy rate (the interest rate charged by CBN on money lent to banks) has never been up to 10 percent! In 2006, Nigerian banks were allowed to participate in the arrangement of fraudulent debt buyback which saw over $12.4 billion of the nation’s wealth siphoned to multinational financial institutions. Also, in 2007/08, Nigerian banks were given license to ‘manage’ over $7 billion from the over $60 billion excess crude wealth. Few months after, the same government issued treasury bills at huge interest rates. What a ‘nice and legitimate’ of robbing the nation.

With this, CBN and the government have already assured banks of uninterrupted but cheap profits. While oil contributed over 70 percent to GDP and banks making tens of billions as profit, the productive sector continue to tumble. Banks, in a craze for mega profits, embarked on series of public offers, so as to rake in billions from political looters and big business. This same money was recycled to gain from government neo-liberal policies through privatization of oil wells and public corporations like cement companies, ports, steel and iron companies, fuel import, etc, which were financed by the banks, from the monies robbed from the nation’s treasury as analyzed above. Searching for more wealth in addition to unprecedented wealth available to bank managers, maddening stock gambling and perfidious profit taking ensued with banks managers and shareholders sharing out profit from immature and unrealistic loans, and inflating bank share values by insider buying. The bases for this madness are not far-fetched: huge wealth at their disposal and bankruptcy of Nigeria’s business and political class.

All this continued far into the Yar’Adua government tenure. In fact, the economic strategists of Yar’Adua government saw nothing wrong in Soludo’s cheap loans to the banks and costly Treasury bill. When Soludo’s CBN gave N200 billion to banks as agricultural loan with a stringent condition that interested farmers should have N200 million as asset in a country where over 95 percent of Nigerian farmers are poor peasants), Yar’Adua government only concurred. (In the real sense, the money was meant to shore up bank capital base, which has been eroded by the global financial meltdown, due to downward trend of the stock exchange, withdrawal of short term investment fund by foreign businesses and low revenue of governments (and consequently, its contractors and looters).)

It took the near-collapse of the world capitalist economy which led to the downward spiraling of crude oil price (which was itself over-priced by mindless speculation at the stock market), that exposed the deep-rooted rottenness in the Nigerian economy. It also shows the bankruptcy of the Nigeria’s economic strategists, including the IMF/World Bank spin doctors. Practically, the much touted economic growth is predicated on oil wealth receipt; the fraudulent wealth of the few multi-millionaires and billionaires; and the paper wealth of financial institutions. Note that a product of Soludo’s consolidation reform is over 30, 000 bank layoffs and several thousands sacked through Obasanjo’s neo-liberal reforms. The former bank managers and major shareholders who ruined the unsuccessful banks looted over N55 billion from these banks, according to a Nigeria’s Senate Committee public hearing, while poor depositors are made victims. Many of these bank managers and shareholder have found their way back to the banking system.

Having said all this, it is vital to ask question whether the Sanusi’s prescription is a departure from the ruinous road. Without incurring the wrath of Sanusi Fans Club, the fact does not place Sanusi’s reform on another path from the ruinous past. If, as Sanusi said in a forum, the indicted bank officers should be taken to the guillotine for the massive fraud they perpetrated, what about a government that played a central role in the handout spree to banks, which laid the basis for the whole shenanigan; (I know Sanusi cannot ask for the dethronement of a government that placed a plum job on his lap.) Sanusi also commended Yar’Adua for being dispassionate on the reform even when his (Yar’Adua’s) family interests in one of the affected banks are at risk. But Mr. Sanusi failed to tell us what the president/family was doing when all the tomfoolery were perpetrated by his bank. Was the president’s family, as a significant shareholder, not beneficiary of massive racketeering perpetrated by the family bank? What was the role of the family in the operation and profit-making of the bank? That Mr. Sanusi rather than address these issues, exhibited an unwarranted and already superfluous show of sycophancy, actually show the direction of Sanusi’s reform.

Looking at the reform itself, it is glaring that it cannot go beyond boundary of the existing shenanigan economy. Pumping N620 billion into ten banks as a way of recovering the economy is itself a fraud. According to official data, just 8 percent of Nigerians, out of the 20 percent Nigerians who have access to financial service, control around 90 percent of bank deposits while just 1 percent of Nigerians control 80 percent of the nation’s wealth. Thus, the N620 billion bailout benefits the top echelon of Nigerian economic strata (and not the working and poor people from whose thin pockets the bail out funds are being withdrawn.)

Worse still, it is those billionaires, who severally and collectively plunder these banks, are the major shareholders and depositors in these banks. Sanusi’s feeble excuse that the bailout fund belongs to the CBN is funny. Assuming without conceding that the N620 billion belongs to the CBN, the question is who funds the CBN? Is the banks’ reserve with the CBN up to half of the bailout fund being given to these banks? What this imply is that the public resources is being used not to bailout teeming millions of Nigeria’s hoi polloi, but the already few rich who caused this crisis in the first place.

Then, what is the bailout fund meant for: is it to fill the bottomless pit of bad debts (and to restore banks’ profitability) or buoy up the economy? If it is to fill the pits, this is an assured failure. According to the CBN and EFCC, out of the over N1.5 trillion bad debt, only about N150 billion (10 percent) has been recovered. If the N620 billion is added to this, it is still less than 55 percent of the bad debts. If at all this amount provides the fund to start some minimal activities, the banks will not restore to profitability in the immediate. Whether the EFCC can recover a sizable amount of the bad debts is highly unlikely because an attempt at enforcing recovery of the debts will sake the weak foundation of Nigeria's economy as virtually every major player of the Nigeria’s economy are directly or indirectly affected. Where will these people or their business concerns get the money for debt repayment without businesses suffering in the form of retrenchment, shop closure, etc. If their estate or collaterals are liquidated, will that safe the economy. Aside the fact that the properties will lose values, which will reduce the cost to be recovered, those who will buy are the same rich few who are one way or the other involved in the bank scams, (and who will use their new status to take over the banks, and repeat the same ruinous profit-taking process.) What will happen to the ‘real’ economy?

Will the CBN’s N620 billion be used to fund small and medium businesses? This is not straightforward. In the first instance, what militates against small and medium industries is not only lack of credits, but high cost of production which makes local products uncompetitive. To spur this sector of the economy will require government massive investment in infrastructures – integrated transport system, adequate and stable power supply, agricultural system, etc while there must be deliberate government investment in the provision of free and sophisticated educational and health sector, massive jobs through public works, etc all of which should improve the purchasing power of the over 70 percent poor Nigerians and make them participants in the running of the economy. Contrarily, the government has further committed itself to anti-poor neo-liberal policies. Corruption is still rife; with corrupt politicians who looted the nation blind still patrolling corridors of power while cases like Halliburton, Wilbros, Siemens, etc are being covered up. (Thus the banks will prefer to keep the money in their vaults rather than giving out loans to risky small and medium industries, which will expose them to big stick of CBN.)

What applies to the small and medium industries should just be magnified for the big industries. What then is the CBN and the government expect the banks to spend the N620 billion bailout (and government N200 billion bailout) funds for? The monies will go through the past processes: investment in government treasury bills, funding of oil importation and privatization cum privatization of public utilities and corporation; and growing out of it, massive speculation and paper money. It is not accidental that the government is insisting on deregulation and privatization. These are means of spurring profitability for banks and private big businesses, while avoiding the ‘rigours’ of committing themselves to massively developing infrastructures and improving purchasing power. Before long, government will start issuing bonds to banks so that the same monies given to banks will be loaned to the same government at exorbitant interests.

Sanusi has hinted of the possibility of handing over banks to foreign investors. This in the first instance is an acceptance of bankruptcy of Nigeria’s business class, and indeed the capitalist political class. But invitation of foreign investors is just an extension of bankruptcy. Sanusi’s attempt at portraying foreign investors as better capitalists is misplaced as the current global economic meltdown that exposed the con in the Nigeria’s financial sector, is itself a product of the perfidy of the western capitalist economic and financial class. In fact, foreign financial rating agencies clearly supported the banks’ racket through their dubious ratings. Furthermore, the foreign big business operating in Nigeria, in oil and gas, construction, finance, etc have only serve as conduit pipes for massive capita flight and plundering. (Shell claimed in mid-2009 to have paid over $6 billion as tax to government in the past ten years. will Shell’s profit less than its profit? Also, many companies including Siemens, Wilbros, Halliburton, Cadbury, etc have been fingered in bribery and corruption by international agencies in Nigeria and other African countries.)

Economically, it would be second slavery. Foreign control of the financial sector will mean foreign control of the economy. Foreign control of Nigerian banks will mean that the government will have to implement further neo-liberal policies (commercialization of education, health, etc which will only be available to the rich, privatization of public utilities and re-privatization of private companies to foreign hands, massive job losses and cut in salaries through various anti-labour policies, devaluation of the currency, etc.) meant to limit expenditure on social services in order to have a stable flow of profit and wealth export. Furthermore, foreign investors cannot trust Nigerian capitalist class, therefore, they will have to have stake in major sector of the economy as condition for funding the economy.

Politically, direct foreign intervention in political and military policies will be necessary as a way of securing foreign business interest. This will imply increased spying activities in the country. Already, many of these economic and political policies are being currently implemented as conditions for loan servicing. While Nigeria, as a result of limited integration into world capitalist economy, was able to stay a little afloat in the current global economic crisis, the next economic crisis, a normal occurrence in capitalist boom-and-bust system, consume Nigeria’s and her working and poor people, with attendants socio-political aftershocks.

A careful and sober analysis of the banking crisis and the provided solution will show that Nigeria’s capitalist business and political class are at dead-end. Sanusi could not even attempt partial nationalization of the affected banks, as done by his masters in western countries. If over 200 big companies could own trillions in bad debts (as published by CBN), is it not sensible that such companies (and the affected banks) should be taken over by government and put under the democratic public control of workers, communities and consumer associations. But it will be illusory to expect the political class and the capitalist spin doctors like Sanusi (whose former bank was also involved in massive bad loans) to vote for public ownership. It will take a massive movement of workers, youth and the oppressed for this to be achieved. Democratic public control, management and ownership of the controlling big business in Nigeria will also mean massive commitment to provision of free and quality education and healthcare; public mass housing, integrated transport system (road, rail, air and water); mechanized, poor peasant-based, environment-friendly agriculture; environment-friendly power and energy system; massive job provision for all able-bodied citizens with living minimum wage and pension; social security, etc. With this, there will improvement in standard of living and purchasing power; and availability of infrastructures that will aid industrialization and genuine economic growth and development. All these will require cutting the trillions of naira handed over to political contractors and politician yearly.

But, the current political and business classes are deeply intertwined with the rottenness inherent in Nigeria’s colonial capitalist economy. They cannot sacrifice their wealth and privileges for a change of course in the nation’s political economy. This explains why over 10 years of civil rule had meant continuous misery for the vast majority and wealth for the few. Therefore, as against the collaborationist and uncritical support of the labour leadership for Sanusi’s reform, this is the time for the labour movement to build a mass, democratic fighting platform which will mobilize the enormous anger, energy and commitment of majority of working and impoverished masses for the nationalization of the commanding height of the economy under the democratic control and management of the organized working and poor people. The labour movement must be able to link the current struggle against deregulation and for N52, 200 minimum wage with the need to fight for the total and radical overhaul of Nigeria’s economy. Ultimately, the labour movement, pro-labour, socialist and youth organizations must realize that it is only a social revolution that can give a new direction to Nigeria’s political economy. This underlines the need for a national summit to build a revolutionary, socialist-oriented political platform to prepare for this. A genuine, socialist, workers’ government will serve as beckon for working and poor people in not only Africa but in the third world and indeed the whole world. This is the lesson of the current banking crisis.

Section II

1. Where is the Nigerian left?

2. Imperialism, Obasanjo and Nigerians

3. Mass investment in Oshiomhole

4. Nigeria's solution is not in the ballot box

5. Tribunal’s ruling: imperative of a working class political alternative

6. Oshiomhole's victory: labour should build radical labour party now

7. Talking about the Nigerian revolution

8. Nigeria: Ekiti’s Political Drama; A Reflection

9. Boko Haram and a Working class alternative

10. Gani Fawehinmi: Not yet a postscript

11. Nigeria’s Political logjam: Revolutionary Alternative to the Policy of Lesser Evil

12. The Blood Flood in Jos and the role of the Working class

1. Where Is The Nigerian Left?

Written, March, 2006

This question requires the highest level of seriously at this point when the nation is fast descending to the abyss of dictatorship and barbarism. Moreover, the reaction of the mass of people socially also boils down to the alternative they could see to the present rot engendered by the anti-poor, neo-liberalist government of the day. In fact, many progressively minded individuals who have witnessed the heroic action of human right and pro-democracy activists during the dark day of jack-boot militarism in the country are not comfortable with the present docility of the “Left”. They see a seemingly conspicuous and conscious silence of their past ‘heroes’ at this time when mass of people are daily attacked by barrage of anti-poor policies.

In the real sense, it is highly disturbing that the past heroes of the masses have lost almost the entire hallmark of representative of the downtrodden – from labour leaders, to human right activists, renegade self-proclaimed socialists and Marxists, radical student activists and intelligentsia to the ‘progressive’ journalists – one sees an endless list of degenerates. The worst of them have dissolved into the various sections of the conservative and corrupt ruling class, defending what they yesterday claimed to be committing their entire lives to fight while the best of them (some with utmost sincerity – the Chima Ubanis, Bekos, etc) have become toothless bulldogs of the human right community. Gone are the days when labour and student leaders’ pronouncement are taken with utmost seriousness by the ruling class – even those who sleep on bullets. Gone are the days of radical journalism when media men are people of high integrity not as a product of financial buoyancy but that of populism. But today, despite the worsening state of things – economic, social, and political; activism have undergone almost 180 degree turn – “upside down” (apology to the memory of late Fela Anikulapo).

However, for those who have foresight over astonishment as Karl Marx called true intellectuals, the present situation is not inexplicable. In fact, it is a product of a long and somewhat unperceived process that has led us to where we are now. The best days of activism can be classified into pre-1990 and post-1990. While the pre-1990’s represent those periods when socio-economic issues form the basis of any political issue. When issue of the system that breeds inequality, poverty and mis-governance is the starting point of any political system; when daily needs of the people are not only linked with the overall political struggle in newspapers and books but also on the streets and campuses of Nigeria; when the masses recognize those who understand their daily plight and ready to stand with them on the picket line. These were the periods when every strand of government economy policies was subjected to ‘critical’ criticism; when it has to justify its policies before socialist “jurists”.

But the socialist “jurists”, despite their highly critical views could not see anything wrong in their model society – USSR which, despite the massive gains of nationalized economy which catapulted a backward society to the second civilization in the world, there was still a parasitic layer which stood on the head of the civilization and was eating it down – a ruling stratum that was eating deep into the economy of the country through undemocratic planning, privilege living for the ruling stratum and sabotaging revolutions in order countries. All what this stratum represent would have been deemed impossible by the founding fathers of socialism (Karl Marx, F Engels, V I Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxembourg, etc.), except for the last of them Trotsky who saw and condemned the trend (before the ice axe of Mercader cut off his breath in 1940) at its infant state then represented then by Joseph Stalin (whose name was used to coin this grotesque caricature of Marxism – Stalinism). The best representatives of the masses in Nigeria then, could not see the fault in this model but continued to “pray” for its survival in Nigeria.

However, when this caricature of genuine socialism obeyed the negative prognosis of Leon Trotsky (that what was happening in USSR will dialectically contradict itself and lead to either political revolution for genuine socialist democracy or descent into capitalist barbarism), they could not explain what was happening but had to join the chorus of capitalist triumphal choir led by Francis Fukuyama. Majority of them became advocates of face-lift (humanist) capitalism by covering the contradictions of capitalist economy which daily reflect in the daily struggle of the masses; they became advocates of human rights (a superficial engagement under capitalism) forgetting that human rights and genuine democracy can never be truly achieved in a system of bare economic inequality. Some of them even dissolved into military juntas. To some activists (like the late Beko Ransome-Kuti) who do not believe in dictatorship in the then USSR among the activists, the collapse of the Soviet civilization, without clear understanding, only reinforced their contempt for socialism. This conservative transformation was the features of anti-military rule struggles of the 1990’s which was pronounced in the struggle for June 12, 1993 mandate actualization (struggle to validate the mandate of Late M.K.O Abiola, a member of the imperialist class, though ironically representing the wish of the people, but would have become another Obasanjo if given the mandate then). A genuine socialist would have translated the anger of the masses against the military junta (which has become symbol of their suffering) to a struggle for revolutionary change before the June 12, 1993 elections rather than being forced by movement of people to struggle for the mandate of a section of the bourgeois class. But the veil of Stalinism and chain of human “rightism” could not allow them despite enjoying mass support. Even, during the June 12, 1993 struggle, a combination of mass anger against the annulment of the election and working class revolutionary demands who have made a huge way forward for the working masses.

While the masses were disenchanted with the Babangida’s junta, the left groups refuse to mobilise the masses through popular demands that links the economic demands of the poor people (free education and healthcare, jobs for all, massive social infrastructural development, etc) with the political demand for end to military regime and for a democratic government of the people. This would have led to the formation of revolutionary working people’s party that will mobilise from workers, peasants, artisans, youth and students, etc. that will not only contest power with the military but also lead all the struggles of the working and poor people from grassroots to the national level. Even if the regime refused to register the party, the fighting character of the party would have made the regime’s existence more short-lived and provided a clear cut alternative opposition structure as against the rainbow, capitalist-led opposition groups (SDP, NADECO, etc), which only mobilised mass anger against military rule and the policies it represented, to seek for power. although, as early as 1989 the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) had tried to form a political party, but the defeatist and treacherous character of its leadership led to the abandonment of the party after the military pronounced two-party system. If the workers’ party had been maintained and built as a platform for the resistance against military even if illegally, it would have had enough mass base to chase the regime away before or after the 1993 elections.

The final stage of the human right movement is the post-June 12 struggle when “democracy” became the new catch word. The human right community (who are being sponsored anyway by foundations and agencies of capitalists and imperialism like National Endowment Fund, Ford Foundation, etc) have become gradually alienated from daily economic struggle of the masses. They only superficially criticize privatization, retrenchment, etc, which have daily made them to lose the mass respect. Unfortunately, the ruling class which understands events than them could not be moved by their “ranting”. However, whenever they join the economic struggles of the masses, like fuel price hike, casualization, etc and make concrete political statements like regime and system change, they gain the respect and ovation of the masses. Unfortunately, the national labour leadership has turned this respect into an avenue to get more patronage from the ruling class while the pro-democracy groups have not translated these statements to actions. The Nigerian “left” who could not gain the support of the masses from their so-called stance on democracy (which have made no meaning to the masses who see no gain of capitalist democracy) have now turned into anarchist activities – PRONACO, which neither has colouration of the representatives of the masses nor have any root in the daily mass struggles, even the popular fuel price struggles. They now want to present their own unpopular constitution (though some of the PRONACO leaders are popular) as against the third term documents called amended constitution of the Obasanjo’s sycophants.

The writer of this piece should not be misunderstood as being against human rights activism or the struggle against dictatorship; on the contrary, the writer believes in everything that can bring succor to the face of the downtrodden not only now but on the long term. Therefore, human right activism as being presently raised without satisfying the stated goals and rooting itself in the mass of people can only reinforce the present disillusionment. Also, the writer also agrees with the aim behind the PRONACO (that is building an alternative constitution for the country) but against the heterogeneous and nebulous character, conduct and activities of PRONACO which itself is a function of the failure of its authors to identify with the daily struggles of the masses and the radical ideas being them.

On the third term issue, it is glaring that the human right and pro-democracy activists are confused and their activities are reflecting this. While they condemned the descent to complete dictatorship which the deprived section of the ruling class also stands against, the pro-democracy and civil society groups fail to distinguish themselves from this self-serving “democrats” who yesterday supported state-sponsored armed attack on people who protested against government misrule. However, creating the distinction is not automatic; it must be a product of the ability to expose the underlining capitalist socio-economic basis of the Obasanjo’s third term agenda – the quest to control the larger share of the stolen wealth of the nations produced by the working and toiling poor. It must also be based on the ability to proffer a lasting alternative to the approaching capitalist barbarism, by seeking for the collective ownership of the wealth of the country for the collective welfare of the working and toiling poor (who created the wealth).

This can only be realized through the nationalization of the commanding height of the economy as against privatization of the economy by imperialism and its local allies. It is through this that funds needed to massively fund social services like free education, free health, secured jobs for all, living wages, subsidized food, electricity, transport, water, sanitation, child care, etc., as against commercialization being practised now, will be freed from the stranglehold of multinational vampires and their local capitalist hangers-on. To achieve genuine anti-corruption campaign, democratic probe commissions will be set up from local to national levels to investigate all political office holders and big businesses. The efficacy of nationalization or public ownership has been shown by the gargantuan advancement that USSR witnessed before lack of working class democracy suffocated it. Therefore, as we must recognize the gain of nationalization, we must be able to guide against it collapse through genuine democracy where people will exercise direct control of the economy and politics at all levels, and thus prevent allocation of resources to the ruling class and prevent wastage due to bureaucratic planning of the few as against holistic planning by working people from local to national level. It is only when these programmes are explained to the masses on the barricade, pickets and daily protest that pro-democracy activism can make meaning and giverealistic hope to the masses. When this is done, genuine pro-poor activists will be separated from self proclaimed democrats. Furthermore this must be given a political banner through conference of pro-people organizations to forge mass political platform that will base itself on these programmes and wrestle power from the present corrupt capitalist politicians.

Unless this is done, the civil society movement will only be chasing shadow and will not be able to build a new layer of genuine student and young activists that will be able to represent the mood and yearnings of the masses. One must also appeal to the journalists to try and improve towards radical journalism as against the present situation where they are supporting the system that is enslaving them.

2. Imperialism, Obasanjo and Nigerians

Written March, 2006

The political situation of the country is becoming a somewhat decisive factor for common man survival today than ever. What this implies is that the roles of our public office holders today are having a direct bearing on the lives of the teeming majority of the people. As a popular saying goes that the economics, politics and history cannot be separated. While economic is a relation of production, politics determines who gets what from the economic gains while the history is the story of that relation. Therefore at this juncture, it is important to discuss the various issues that are confronting the vast majority of the people most especially in the political arena.

The most important issue today is the self-perpetuation agenda of the Obasanjo government which has attracted negative comments from various quarters – both genuine and otherwise. Not to be forgotten is also the positions of the establishment town-criers who want to justify the necessity of the ruinous agenda of perpetuity. However, it is important to first state that looking at the way the Obasanjo and his other surrogates got political power; a cynic may be forced to conclude that there is no need to discuss their political activities of those who stole peoples’ mandate in order to satisfy their pecuniary interests. Moreover, the economic activities of these people have made the frustrated majority to get disenchanted with the political system. Nevertheless, when one looks at the trend of events in the country, the continuous degeneration of the country further in to the abyss of barbarism, one discovers the necessity not only to analysis the situation but also for the progressive trend to mobilize all their forces and chart a viable way out for the mass of the people who are already enslaved by the system.

One of the arguments of the pro-third elements is that the Obasanjo government has been able to stabilize the economic system of the country. But it should be clearly stated to them that such argument is not meant to convince the majority of the poor masses but to convince imperialism and the powers that determine the political career of the capitalist ruling class whose economic interests they are defending in the corridors of power. For the toiling masses, the economic policies of the Obasanjo government and its clones have meant continued misery for them. Are we to talk of the privatization policy which has led to hand over of Nigeria’s vast economic resources to multinational corporations at token fees – who invest neither in the human nor material resources – leading to retrenchment of tens of thousands of workers. Moreover, the remaining working people are over-worked to provide huge profit for the multinational corporations leading to high capital flight from the country. Therefore, in the final analysis, the country is again turned into a haven for the cheap labour and huge profit for the multinationals and their local allies while the majority of the people are subjected to excruciating poverty via inflation, currency devaluation, low purchasing power, further closure of local factories and more retrenchment. This has been amplified by various multilateral financial organizations (IMF/World Bank, WTO, IFC) in the world who are the extension of the imperialist corporations and economic hit-men of “corporato-cracy” using John Perkin’s language in his highly revealing book, “Confession of an Economic Hit-man”.

At the other side, in the name of granting debt pardon (for which Obasanjo government handed over $12.4 billion to financial sharks, to secure a fictitious $34 billion debt relief), Nigeria was asked to implement what they call Policy Support Initiative (PSI) – an euphemism for SAP i.e. removal of subsidy on social services funding like education, health, and other infrastructures, which in turn imply economic attacks on the vast majority of the poor. This also mean that the money meant to provide free education, free health, better infrastructures, jobs, etc have been given out to multinational vampires who enrich themselves via the plundering of third world countries economies.

Yet, Obasanjo government and its town-criers like Femi Fani-Kayode (special assistant on public communication, who was later fingered in a 5 billion naira fraud national airport repair fraud) will want us to belief that these are gains for the mass of people in Nigeria! While education is in shambles, hospitals have become death centres while able bodied men are turned into artificial sinners and politician bandits, the members of the ruling class continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the state, e.g. N33 million annual dollar-salary for the minister of finance, Okonjo-Iweala, who tells us to tighten our belt for the economic hardship of the reform programme - her salary is enough to provide jobs for six workers for the next ten years. While Obasanjo informed us that he is making N30 million from his Ota farm monthly he refused to tell us how much he was making before he got to power in 1999, and how much he is earning from the unproductive stock market and the allowances for junketing round the world (that has brought us debt bondage). Yet, fact continue to emerge that billions are been looted and misappropriated by various members of the ruling class – N100 billion on fictitious TAM of the NNPC refineries, N200 billion on ghost road rehabilitation and construction during Tony Anenih corruption-ridden era as Works Minister, N33 billion looted from ID Card project, N150 billion from CHOGM, COJA and presidential jet, etc. In fact, as early as 2002, an audit report carried out by the sacked auditor general, Mr. Azu, indicted the presidency of millennial misappropriation. These are scratches in the face of other gargantuan looting going on at various level of governance.

Therefore, in summary, the reason while Obasanjo must go on continuity mission is to perpetuate these obscene situations which will lead to social and economic alienation of the majority of the people. To achieve this, people have to be gagged and ruled over in a dictatorial and undemocratic manner, which in turn requires use of bribery (Obasanjo’s N10 million donation to Kenneth Orkumah Hembe-led NANS, among others) and naked power display (attack on NLC and other regionalist agitators, among others). This in itself has the blessing of the hawkish group of the imperialist powers holders of developed countries especially neo-liberalist Bush in US and Britain’s Tony Blair who belief that the current system and policy implementation must not be given any break or else it can mean a gain for the masses who will then take their struggle to the politico-economic arena, which can spell doom for their economic and foreign policies. Moreover, no other representative of Nigeria’s ruling class can be trusted than this. On the other hand, the doves within the imperialist power holders belief that unless there are change of faces, the current neo-liberal capitalist policies which are having untold hardship on the vast majority of the people, if maintained could lead to revolt and political turmoil thus jeopardizing their economic interests. Therefore, there is need to groom other layers of the pro-imperialism, pro-neo-liberalism ruling class that can deceive people for the mean time (to stave off the threat of mass uprising).

However, it is unfortunate that rather for our media to have in-depth research into this issue; they have reduced it into a PDP/ ruling class affair and thus giving opportunity for some pro-establishment section of the press, especially the well-established ones to gain financial benefits via invitation to politicians. It should be noted that if other present bourgeois opposition political parties are in power, the same anti-poor economic policies will be implemented; the same perpetuity politics will be played out. We are witnesses to how the Alliance of Democracy, AD (the main opposition ruling party in the south-west between 1999 and 2003, which later broke up into three others parties: Action Congress (AC), Democratic People’s Alliance (DPA) and a remnant of Alliance of Democracy (AD), as a result of irreconcilable pecuniary interests) governors attacked the working masses via implementation of neo-liberal policies of retrenchment, cut in social service funding, etc.; how Tinubu/AD government in Lagos as refused to show any tangible things for billions accruing to Lagos each month but continue to use some corrupt section of the media to promote his government; while the terrible experiences of ANPP governors in the north cannot be easily forgotten.

Therefore, while of course Obasanjo continuity signify imminent civilian dictatorship (which has begun as early as 1999 anyway), it is more sensible to conclude that whether Obasanjo is continuing or not, if the current neo-liberal, neo-colonial imperialist capitalist socio-economic relation which assures more money and influence for the multinational corporations and the already super-rich few, and continued misery for the majority, we cannot stop having the Alams-gates, Ngige-gate, Ladoja-gate, third term-gate, etc, while poverty-gatewill become perpetual experience for the teeming poor.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon those who identify with mass struggle for a better living to start to strategize on how to fight for a better economic system that is egalitarian, pro-poor and anti-imperialism; a system that will defend nationalization of the commanding height of the economy under the democratic control and management of the working people at various levels of economic activities, that will defend proper funding of the social service, and promote genuine people’s democracy. To do this, power must be taken away from the present set of self-serving capitalist politicians and put into the hands of the teeming working and toiling people who are suffering from the profit system. Therefore, the human right activists, pro-democracy activists, socialists, environmentalists, etc must be ready to join force with the labour to demand for a workers’ party that will lead workers, students, police, army, peasants, and the oppressed in general in the struggle for political power in order to establish an egalitarian socialist society where the need and welfare of the people will be the basis of production, distribution and governance against the capitalist system in which interests of the rich few is supreme. The Nigerian situation is between revolution and barbarism.

3. MASS INVESTMENT IN OSHIOMHOLE

Written January, 2007

Watching the campaign train of the governorship candidate of the Action Congress in Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with the mass support and unsurpassed rousing approval of the downtrodden for his candidature, is very exciting and thought-provoking. Looking at the character of Oshiomhole, one could only conclude that the support is hard earned and expected when viewed from the background of the relatively progressive leadership of Adams Oshiomhole-led NLC. Though there are many costly mistakes here and there (including the failure to give political direction to the various strikes undertaken under the leadership by building a mass workers’ party organised by Labour movement itself), but his leadership of NLC provided courage for the masses that were ready to combat the anti-poor government.

The mass support for Oshiomhole’s governorship campaigned has made him to start making some radical statements and condemning many anti-poor nefarious policies of the government of the day. This has gravitated the masses towards his campaign. The mass participation of the poor people of Edo State in Adams’s campaign has given it a qualitative character unlike in other states and even nationally where mostly there is mass apathy to their insipid campaigns except for monetarily mobilized supporters (many of whom also fight over pennies after the campaign). Even the national campaign of PDP where President Obasanjo has become another stand up comedian, cannot match the radically different Adams campaign.

To me, Adams would have been another Hugo Chavez (of Venezuela) if he had not limited himself to the confine of Edo state; if he had courageously believed in the mass movement and support of the downtrodden which he had utilized for his eight year sojourn in the Labour House; if he had embraced a radically different, working class, anti-neo-liberalism and anti-imperialist socio-economic cum political views which would have made him to be the genuine vanguard of the masses unlike several NGO bureaucrats, armchair intellectuals cum critics and bar-constrained legal “luminaries” who prefer to consult historically static legal theories than testing their ideas in the living struggles and yearnings of the masses. He would have represented in its full essence the genuine yearnings of the masses for a socio-economic and political systemic change from this rotten, decadent and highly corrupt bourgeois system in its neo-liberal phase which has appropriated the sweat of the masses to a handful corrupt elements in power. He would have shown to the world that the huge monetary, natural, human and mineral resources of the country could be used to better the lots of the vast majority who lack the basic means of livelihood.

While Chavez has not fully embraced the mass yearning, his response to mass radicalism has been far more accurate than that of Adams. While Chavez has embraced gradual nationalization and democratization of economic policy coupled with massive spending of oil money on the social need of the poor masses – education, health, etc; and his open condemnation of neo-liberalism, capitalism and imperialism especially the United State version, he has also moved closer to the masses of other poor countries especially in Latin America through his anti-US imperialism rhetoric. (This however does not confer a revolutionary credential on Chavez government. Indeed, the partial nationalization by Chavez itself is a product of an attempt to curtail mass yearning for a totally nationalized economy. Moreover, most of the public programmes undertaken by Chavez have been done from above without public discussion and decision-making, but by bureaucrats some of whom have connection with the capitalist class, and will switch gear at period of counter-revolution or even help germinate counter-revolution by sabotaging the economy. While Chavez has also helped other Latin American countries, and radicalizing their youth, he has also supported many anti-poor, pro-capitalist governments like Ahmednejad of Iran.) On the other hand, our own Oshiomhole despite evolving politically from the masses has tried to mend fences with the neo-liberal policies of the government of the day while accommodating very backward politicians into his campaign.

In fact, his decamping from the Labour Party (which though was founded by labour leadership including Oshiomhole, is not labour in essence but has the potential if given a clear-cut radical ideological leadership) to Action Congress (the minority section of the corrupt capitalist ruling class) has shown his total lack of sensitivity to mood of the masses. The same Oshiomhole who the masses regard as the people’s president is now sitting with highly corrupt, highly undemocratic elements of yesterdays. Can’t the labour activist see that his popularity is been used by these elements to regain their lost position in the sharing formula?

But the masses will not suddenly drop their support for those they see as their leaders even in the presence of open treachery until they push such leader to the critical point where his/her genuine sincerity for mass movement will be tested. This is where Oshiomhole is heading. I share the yearning and aspiration of the masses for a radical leadership and in fact support Oshiomhole’s candidature while explaining the need to build a strong radical ideologically-rooted, grassroots and democratic platform of the working and toiling masses beyond an individual. This is a more realistic and dynamic approach to the ultra-left position of some persons who feel that the masses should be spat at for supporting Oshiomhole and that of political opportunists masquerading as activists who want to be carried away by Adams popularity (many of whom are opportunists who want to feather their pecuniary nests at the expense of the masses) and want to deceive the masses. The extreme section of the latter is those opportunists (camouflaging as poor people’s friends) who support anything against the central government in the name of “Democratic (?) Front” without looking at the class nature of the so-called opposition. This various tendencies have their expressions in the nature and character of the labour movement in Nigeria, as seen in the bureaucratic nature of central unions.

Conclusively, Adams, the people’s hero, should know that the same masses who call him their president today will throw pebbles at him if he let them down.

4. Nigeria's solution is not in the ballot box

Written May, 2007, retrieved from Pambazuka News website

The contemporary histories of Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico, Greece, Georgia and Ukraine have shown that it is independent political actions of the masses that can change the society.

The outcome of the Nigerian elections held in April 2007 have shown that the solution to Nigeria's hydra-headed socio-political problems can only be achieved if the mass of the working people of Nigeria take destiny into their hands and exercise political movement as a counterweight to bourgeois corrupt politics. Politicians cannot be relied upon to resolve the sufferings of the Nigerian working people.

To begin with, the clash within the rank of the ruling elite, particularly that between president Obasanjo and his vice Atiku Abubakar, was never based on how to better the lot of the masses, who have been made to swallow the poisonous pills of neo-liberal capitalist economic policies over the past eight years. Instead, the cause of the rancour between the two is the question of succession. While Atiku claimed to have conceded power to Obasanjo in 2003 so as to regain it in 2007, the Obasanjo camp sees no reason why Atiku, who has served two terms in the presidency, should be 'criminalizing’ Obasanjo for going for a third term in office.

The masses were presented with two sides of the same corrupt political arrangement and no genuine alternative. Both the president and his vice have acted together to implement the anti-poor, pro-rich policies of neo-liberalism. Atiku was the chairman of National Council on Privatization (NCP), which oversaw the privatization of several government corporations and parastatals. Social service provisions were either commercialized or partly privatized. In the meantime the masses were made the scapegoats of age-long corruption and mismanagement of public enterprises and institutions by the ruling elites via retrenchment, unemployment, unpaid entitlements, including pensions, and inflation.

The president demonstrated that if the nation he rules over could not manage its tertiary education, he could do better. The children of the poor masses who want a good education were told to either a pay Naira500,000 at Bells University's bursary office or go to hell. At the same time, hundreds of acres of state farmlands were bought over by the president - or the Obasanjo Library. Obasanjo followers boast of juicy packages which they try to protect as much as possible.

And whereas the so-called opposition party wanted to present itself as an alternative, the past let them down. Nigerians have not forgetten the spree of retrenchment of the former AD southwest governments of the likes of Bola Tinubu in Lagos and Bisi Akande in Osun. All opposition parties bow before the almighty neo-liberal economic pills as advocated by multilateral agencies of imperialist capitalism – IMF, World Bank and WTO.

The opposition’s political actions could not take into cognizance the plight of the poor people. In an absence of genuine alternatives, the best this opposition could do was to use people's plight to justify their quest for power. This explains why none of them could give reasons for supporting or participating in policies that have deprived the majority of the working and poor people. Even Obasanjo has conceded that all those who antagonize his ‘reforms’ could not provide alternatives because they all stand for the same policies. This situation is underlined in a letter Atiku Abubakar wrote to Obasanjo in early 2006. He stated his intention to run for the presidency and praised Obasanjo for his economic reforms: retrenchment, denied entitlements, decrepit social services, looting via privatization. He promised to continue the same policies. Neither Atiku nor the so-called opposition has suggested any alternative to neo-liberalism and market economies, rejected by the working people. Ruling class politics of survival of the fittest substitutes for radical political actions of the masses; and the masses taking the political road is feared by this deprived section of the ruling class.

Of course any concession to allow the masses to take independent political action through formation of a working people's party would lead to the diversion of the resources of the country, being held up by the capitalist looters, to pro-poor policies: free education, health care, adequate salaries and pension, secure job opportunities and better infrastructures. As these can only be achieved by the stopping corruption and privatization of national wealth, they will spell doom for corrupt ambitions.

Therefore, the ruling politicians and their estranged counterparts in the so-called opposition - which some elements of the media has wrongly tagged progressives - continue their ruinous politics. These same estranged politicians participated actively in the electoral fraud of 1999 and 2003. Many of them played major roles during the dark days of military absolutism. For instance, Obasanjo was the first head of state to plunge Nigeria to the abyss of debt and economic dislocation. Atiku was a former head of Customs and Excise, which was fraught with corruption. The masses, meanwhile, are cajoled with such hollow terms as the rule of law and respect of electoral wishes. But to expect these individuals to genuinely involve working peoples in the political process is an illusion.

The election outcome clearly indicates the futility of relying on any section of the ruling class for a political breakthrough for the people of Nigeria. While the estranged ruling class tried to use mass pressure to force the main ruling PDP party to concede to some of their demands, the ruling class maximized the constitutional flaws and illegitimate rights to authority through for example control of the INEC, the armed forces and part of the judiciary to ensure they did not lose power. Although the majority of voters were disenfranchised by the political machine of the ruling PDP through rigging and violence, the estranged opposition could not mobilize the masses to come and vote as participation in the election was less than 50 percent.

It is foolhardy for anyone claiming to be from a left-wing background to believe that any political gain can come the way of the masses with the working people attaching their political fate to that of the estranged section of the ruling class without undertaking independent, democratic, mass-based and radical political activities. Many so-called civil society organizations - many of which derive their grants from the imperialist agencies in the West on the basis of maintaining the status quo - continue to be lethargic; instead of seeking to build a political platform of the working people of Nigeria that will seek to dismantle the stranglehold of the capitalist ruling class on our economic and political lives.

It is important to draw out lessons from last week’s farcical general election for the working masses. First, given the present constitutional and political arrangements, the corrupt capitalist ruling class will continue to recycle itself in power, irrespective of mass opposition. Secondly, confining the masses within a neo-liberal economic framework will continue to deprive the masses of the political will to undertake independent political action. Thirdly, in order to break through this quagmire, the masses must build a fighting political alternative that is economically and politically different from corrupt opposition politics, and democratically organised from the grassroots to the national level. Fourthly, it is erroneous for the leaders of working class organizations to believe that by confining themselves to so-called civil or legal means, that they can assume political control. Only by taking to the streets, along with other mass political actions, can they force the ruling class to abdicate power. And political alternatives must be linked to the daily struggles of the masses for democratic rights, including the right to free and fair elections.

For these reasons, mass working class organizations and their leaders (NLC, TUC, ASUU, etc) must reject last week’s nonsensical general elections. They must immediately call for the reconstitution of the electoral body, a re-run of all elections, and convocation of a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). This SNC should draw its membership democratically from mass organizations: trade unions, market men and women associations, student movements and ethnic nationalities, which shall reconstitute the political and economic agenda of the country. And this must not mean supporting other corrupt politicians. Rather it is a step towards building a mass struggle that will culminate in the reconstitution of the country in favour of the working masses on an egalitarian basis.

Genuine pro-workers civil society organizations and social movements must come together and call the people to the street to take their destiny in their own hands. They must convoke a general summit of all pro-working people’s organizations, to be spear-headed by the labour movement, with the aim of forming a working people's party that will serve the interest of the masses. I propose a week of political protests around the country to include mass processions, leafleting, rallies and mass meetings as soon as possible. The masses must fight for a democratic socialist Nigeria, where the resources of the country are used not in the interests of the already rich few, but in the welfare interests of the masses.

5. Tribunal’s Ruling: Imperative of a Working Class Political Alternative

Written in March, 2008

The recent ruling of the presidential Election tribunal has again thrown up some issues concerning the fate of the common man in the present polity. Against the reality and public knowledge, the tribunal – basing itself on unjustifiable legalism – affirmed the legitimacy of the electoral fraud perpetrated by the ruling party. This ruling is a big setback to the working and toiling people of Nigeria who are looking for a peaceful means of getting a political solution to the country’s seemingly eternal misery. It is ridiculous and insulting to public sensibility for the tribunal to tell the whole country that despite the fact that no election was held in more than 20 states, the tribunal that the election is 100 percent alright. While the ruling is condemnable, the position of some people that it will throw back the gains of democratic practice is totality misleading. Such argument tends to justify the present pro-rich political arrangement that has politically and economically estranged the working and poor people of the country. It tends to portray the current political arrangement that has estranged the working and poor people economically and politically, as a normal process. It is vital to state that the present political arrangement cannot be termed democracy and this has been clearly confirmed by the ruling of the Election Tribunal.

Democracy makes people to have control over how they are governed. It involves people’s involvement in how economic, political and social policies are determined. Therefore, democracy must ensure that people control their economic collectively and determine how the nation’s resources will be distributed. But in a system where the resources of the country is in the hands of a tiny minority who control over 80 percent of the nation’s wealth (World Bank, 2005 Report) while 70 percent of the population are living in penury, despite trillions of naira that had accrued to the nation since 1999, there cannot be democracy. What we are having presently can be termed “political cartel”; a situation in which the political class comprises those who are controlling the economy and making profit out of this exploitative system. The system is such that all the major political parties are similar in their political compositions (comprising the rich few and moneybags), ideology (commitment to neo-liberal capitalist economic policies) and programmes (sustenance of the pro-rich socio-economic system). The political, legal and social arrangements are structured to ensure the continuation of this system. The working and poor masses of the country are being ostracized from political power; they are prevented from having independent political power through constitutional provision that allow individual moneybags to control more than one political party while the poor people are prevented through obnoxious provision of national spread. The masses are prevented from protesting against obnoxious economic policies while the bosses are allowed to sabotage the economy and force government to bow to their whims and caprices as exemplified by deliberate collapse of the national economic assets (NITEL, NEPA, Ports, Steel mills, etc.) by the political class in order to make them available to the rich few. While the masses are paid pennies and prevented from having other means of survival, political class buy up the country and even use their political power to further their economic interests. What is then left for the so-called democracy that allows the rich to exploit the poor?

In this context, the judiciary is only meant to defend the exploitative system as structured in law. The judiciary is meant to defend capitalism and prevent the masses from taking independent actions by making them to believe that their grievances can be resolved through legalism. But, sometimes mass trust in the judiciary can put the whole system in crisis. For instance, the widespread fraud perpetrated during the last elections automatically mean that the presidential elections will be cancelled, more so that the judiciary has cancelled some elections. But there is limit to the populism of the judiciary. A cancellation of the presidential election will mean a concession to mass anger by the ruling class. This can further embolden the masses to demand for more from the ruling class and thus endanger the capitalist system, even if President Yar’Adua should re-emerge as the president. It is therefore “sensible” for the “Five Wise Men” to protect the system.

The same judiciary was to be used by imperialism in 1993 when the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) went to court to prevent the confirmation of Chief MKO Abiola as the winner of the presidential election. But the mood to end military rule has gone beyond a trust in the judiciary, therefore a Bonarpartist approach, exemplified by the Abacha regime has to be adopted to prevent the masses from pushing the system to its limit. Attempt by the Social Democratic Party of Germany to resort to legalism during the rise of fascism in Germany contributed to the victory of fascism and consequent horror and war. It can safely be inferred that judiciary is an instrument of the state to maintain the capitalist system. It can bow to public interest at times in order to build public confidence in the system, but it will be the most reactionary when mass movement are calling for a fundamental positive radical change of the status quo. Karl Marx was correct in calling law an instrument to safeguard the private property of the rich few who acquire their wealth through brazen exploitation. To have a blind confidence in the judiciary, as demonstrated by some progressive commentators is a product of shallow understanding of the state. This should not be confused with the treachery and opportunism of some pro-state lawyers who are justifying the ridiculous judgment of the “Five Wise-men”.

Furthermore, the mass response to the ruling of the presidential tribunal again exposes the unpopularity of the so-called opposition. Going by the mass anger that characterized the electoral fraud which even pushed the labour leadership to call a mass action, one expects that the ruling will push the masses out again. But there is practically no difference among the contestants and their political parties. They stand for the same policies, programmes and ideology – neo-liberalism, thus the free movement of politicians from one political party to another. Therefore, there is no way the mass of working people can risk their lives for those who are committed to the same anti-poor policies. This is different from the mood against the annulment of June 12, 1993 elections. While of course Chief Abiola represents the capitalist class, he also ambiguously represents a mass anger against military rule. But the present capitalist politicians represent the same political arrangement. Even if any one of them emerges in a bye-election, they will represent the same policies and continue the misery of the poor.

Therefore, the only situation that could have pushed the masses out is if there is a political structure of their own, where their collective interest can be protected. This will mean formation of a working class political party that will stand against neo-liberal policies the present pro-rich political class stands for. This will mean a radical working class political party that will stand for public ownership of the commanding height of the economy that will use the huge resources of the society for the interest of the poor as against the present profit-oriented system. It will mean commitment to massive funding of social services such as free and qualitative education, health care, pension, etc, massive provision of efficient, cheap and environmentally-friendly transport system and communication system, provision of adequate and secured jobs for all able bodied citizens coupled with adequate living wages and pension, among others. Such a party will root itself in the masses through involvement in the daily struggle of the masses for better living coupled with adequate grass-root and internal democracy that such party will enjoy. It is only such a party that can elicit mass support and interest. It is only such a party that the masses will be ready to die for. But despite the mass support the labour leadership enjoys, at least going by the popular seven general strikes of the labour since 1999, the labour leadership has not come to the realization that the time is ripe for a working class political alternative to the present rottenness the neo-colonial capitalist system has put the country into. Rather, the labour leadership prefer to partner the Yar’Adua government (the same government whose emergence it condemned), which has openly tell the world that it shall continue the past policies of privatization, commercialization, liberalization, retrenchment, deregulation and fuel price hike.

The NLC leadership was correct to have said that the fate of the working and poor masses cannot be left in the hands of “Five Wise men”, but placing such faith in the Electoral Reform panel is worse. Nigeria’s history is replete with several of such committees – from Babangida’s Political Bureau to the Obasanjo’s Political Reform Committee – yet the country is still in the shackles of the corrupt class. The problem is not the law but the socio-economic system that make the law to be used for exploitation of the working majority by the rich few. Only a radical working class political party can save the future of the toiling millions. It is time for the labour and civil societies to draw this conclusion.

6. Oshiomhole's Victory: Labour Should Build Radical Labour Party Now

Written in April, 2008

On Thursday, 20th March, 2008, the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Benin, after ten months of legal tussle, gave an overwhelming victory to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the immediate past president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). This victory is definitely a victory for the toiling and working masses of not only Edo State but of Nigeria who have been looking for an alternative to the rotten capitalist politicians. It should be noted that the emergence and popularity enjoyed by Adams Oshiomhole cannot be divorced from the struggles of the Nigerian working masses for good governance which resulted in seven general strikes against the Obasanjo government, especially on fuel price hikes. It should also be recalled that the period of the Tribunal sittings recorded massive movement of the radicalized workers and youth to show solidarity to the “People’s President”. However, this victory must be situated within correct political praxis so that the victory will not be undulyromanticized and thus give a false impression to the masses of Nigeria that all is now well. In the first instance, Oshiomhole’s victory is a product of the panicky state of the Nigerian ruling class.

In an earlier write-up, titled “Presidential Tribunal’s Ruling: Imperative of a Working Class Alternative” published in the Daily Trust of 14th March, 2008 (among other newspapers and online sites), I had argued that “It can safely be inferred that judiciary is an instrument of the state to maintain the capitalist system. It can bow to public interest at times in order to build public confidence in the system, but it will be the most reactionary when mass movement are calling for a positive radical change. Karl Marx was correct in calling law as an instrument to safeguard the private property of the rich few who acquire their wealth through brazen exploitation. To have a blind confidence in the judiciary, as demonstrated by some progressive commentators is a product of shallow understanding of the state. This should not be confused with the treachery and opportunism of some pro-state lawyers who are shamefully justifying the ridiculous judgment of the ‘Five Wise-men’.” The victory of Oshiomhole has again corroborated this assertion. It is a glaring fact that the judiciary was losing credibility after the presidential tribunal judgment that gave victory to Umar Yar’Adua, which in all intent is a political judgment meant to save the system. This in turn has made the Nigeria’s capitalist state to lose credibility despite the fact that a new government (which should naturally be seen as a new lease of life) is in place. This may be fatal for the ruling class at a time of serious class struggle. But the Osihomhole’s case gave another opportunity for the Nigerian state to confer credibility on the system, otherwise the system will be put in serious jeopardy as there will be total distrust in the judicial system despite all attempt by the legal practitioners to defend their means of survival. Therefore, it can be safely said that, as much as the Benin ruling is a sound and brilliant judicial judgment, it is also a political judgment meant to save the fast-dwindling image of the Nigeria’s capitalist system. It will be funny for the judiciary, given the mass movement around Oshiomhole and the glaring facts depicting the ruthless and violent rigging of the Edo election by the PDP, to give a contrary ruling to the one given. Such ruling would have possibly led to mass movement. This analysis does not however diminish the sound sense of professional judgment of the judges; but it must be realized that the judges are also human being who also response to social stimuli – they represent a stabilizing body for the system.

The Benin judgment is a contradiction in itself in two senses. The verdict is a victory for the masses’ quest for a genuine leadership, but at the same time the verdict gives credibility to the fast fading capitalist system. While the verdict gives credibility to the exploitative capitalist system, it also signify a new ray of hope for the masses to build a new political alternative to the rotten capitalist system as it forced out a concession from the ruling class. Therefore, it will be ridiculous for labour leaders to limit the victory of Oshiomhole to congratulatory statements alone. The contradiction must be exploited by the labour leadership. If the labour leadership and Oshiomhole fail to utilize this contradiction on behalf of the working masses, the ruling class will not hesitate to take it back using the Appeal Court (which can water down or reverse the victory) when the masses would have gone to sleep. (On the other hand, they can try to infiltrate the party and the government of Oshiomhole with a view to sabotage it and make it subservient to the capitalist class. Ability of Oshiomhole to rely on the mass base of workers and youth is a valuable asset as a counterweight in this regard. If this happens, the Oshiomhole government will be forced to introduce anti-poor policies in order to satisfy the profit interest of politicians and contractors. This will aside leading to disillusionment with progressive politics will lead to serious credibility crisis for the left forces) This is the kernel of this write-up. The current posture of the labour leadership in placing their hope on the Yar'Adua's electoral reform will only deprive the working masses of political alternative. The reality is that Oshiomhole's victory has given hope to the working masses that they can build a political alternative; it is incumbent on the labour leadership to make the necessary political inference.

Furthermore, the defeat of the PDP in Edo State is indeed a rejection of all anti-poor politicians by the working and poor people of Nigeria. From the United States (where the mass quest for change has taken the shine off Hillary Clinton in favour of Barack Obama – who unfortunately represent the capitalist system but with a vague populist slogans) to Britain (where the New Labour – a former working class based political party that has now become more bourgeois and conservative than the Tories – is fast losing popularity, not to favour of the Tories but political indifference by the working masses); it is clear that the working masses are rejecting the bourgeois politics and their politicians, but they are finding no genuine alternative. This is the lesson to be learnt by the labour bureaucrats in Nigeria from the recent Kenya crisis where the absence of working class alternative that could have rallied the working masses together against the divisive politics played by the major candidates, led to bloodletting.

It is further vital to talk on the issue of platform used by Oshiomhole during the election and the appropriateness of contesting for governor rather than going for the presidency. Some commentators had argued that if Oshiomhole had contested as candidate of the Labour Party (a party he helped formed while being NLC President), he would not have garnered the vote he got. But the same commentators, in their Machiavellian theory could not explain why a Segun Mimiko (a former PDP member) in Ondo state garnered his massive votes in Labour Party. The question is not whether Oshiomhole would win or not, but how a viable radical pan-Nigeria alternative could be given to the masses. It smack of opportunism for Oshiomhole, who gained popularity through struggle of Nigerian working masses for change to abandon a political structure of labour, no matter the limitation of its leadership and programme, and settle for a purely bourgeois platform, comprising many politicians who share no common interest with those he (Oshiomhole) led. It is a sign of sheer contempt for the working masses, and their independent actions. The action of Oshiomhole created an irony in which pro-establishment, and purely capitalist politicians (like Segun Mimiko and Femi Pedro) are contesting under Labour Party while a labour leader is contesting under a bourgeois structure! The question is not whether he will win but how to build a genuine structure that stand against all the anti-poor, pro-rich political organizations. If it is a question of contesting alone, then he should have rather contested under the ruling party and achieve his victory almost free of charge, since the rigging machine is vested with the latter.

Therefore, it is wrong for Oshiomhole to have thought of using a bourgeois structure to fight for working class interests. The capitalist politicians are no fool; they understand power and know how to use it. Oshiomhole's choice to contest for governorship post also shows a level of desperation and lack of a clear idea of how to lead the masses. The issue is that Oshiomhole cannot resolve the crisis facing the Nigerian masses within the confine of Edo State, therefore, there is no point limiting the strength of the masses within Edo State. As against the view that Oshiomhole's case would have gone the way of the Atiku/Buhari if he had contested for presidency is begging the issues. The question is: would the elections have gone the way it went if Oshiomhole had built the Labour Party and contested for presidency under its platform? To me, the answer is a capital NO because the participation of the working masses would have been more radical and it will be civil war for the ruling party to rig election. Moreover, the so-called opposition parties did not inspire any confidence since, aside the fact that their presidential candidates (and the parties) stand for nothing new in states where these opposition parties hold sway, there is little or no difference with other states run by the ruling party.

Oshiomhole if he continues in the bourgeois formation from which he had contested, he will have to subject himself to the whims and caprices of the ruling and reigning sharks in Action Congress. But these politicians in AC, who have been sidelined from taking part in the sharing of national cake (patrimony) will definitely be savouring the new victory which will give them opportunity to get access to state power and resources which Edo State have in abundance. This will mean Oshiomhole handing over the state resources to the sharks in AC at the detriment of the working and toiling masses who have laboured for his leadership. This will only lead to disillusionment amongst the masses. There is no way Oshiomhole can make a meaningful gain to the masses within the structure of AC. The party fully subscribes to neo-liberal capitalist policies of privatization, commercialization, liberalization, retrenchment, cut in social spending etc, which are the policies of the ruling national party, and which are meant to make the rich few richer at the expense of the teeming working but toiling majority. These are the policies that had ensured that despite billions that had accrued to the purse of the country, only the rich few that had gain while the working masses are left in the lurch. These policies have been mouthed by leading lights of AC like Tinubu and Atiku. Therefore, if Oshiomhole is to make any meaning from the victory, he will have to break away from the bourgeois politics he has put himself in. In fact, his government can be strangulated by the federal government if he looks too radical. Therefore, he needs to build a national working class political platform that will transcend Edo State and will represent the whole working masses of Nigeria, a party that will be able to put pressure on the government at all level. This is the only party that can make difference. In fact, Oshiomhole would have to rely on the independent movement of the masses to sustain his victory at the appeal court.

All this put a direct challenge before the labour leadership, which has claimed to be supporting Oshiomhole, to build the Labour Party as a democratic radical, working class party. Though the Labour Party, which was set-up by some labour leaders had been given another colouration (with clearly bourgeois politicians, who could not meet their aspirations in bourgeois corrupt parties, using it as a bargaining instrument for power), it still has the potential to stand for the working masses if it is built by labour movement for that purpose. Building Labour Party will mean involving the working masses from the local to national level in how the party is run through democratic participation and control of the masses themselves without the interference of the moneybags. It will also mean that the party will stand against all pro-rich, neo-liberal ideas, that is, it will stand for public ownership of the commanding height of the nation's resources (human, natural, material, industrial and monetary) which will provide the needed resources to massively fund, free and qualitative education and health care; cheap, efficient and environment-friendly transport (water, land, rail, etc) and communication system; job provision for all citizen, cheap, peasant friendly, mechanized and environment-friendly agriculture and industrial sector, among others. It is this kind of party that will appeal to the working masses of Nigeria. Such party will also serve as a political platform for the working and toiling masses in their daily struggles against the system which will build the status of the party as a pro-masses party. This is the only party that can defend Oshiomhole's victory on a long term basis.

Consequently, while the victory of Oshiomhole is a welcome development, unless he, along with the labour leadership builds the Labour Party as a working class radical platform, he will never make the real change the masses are looking for. Thus, it is incumbent on the labour leadership to call a national summit of Labour, civil society and radical organizations summits to debate on how to enter the labour party and build it. Though, many labour leaders at state and sectoral levels are representatives of various governments in power, involvement of the rank-and-file workers and civil society in entering the Labour Party can guide against opportunism. This is the real lesson of the Oshiomhole's victory.

7. TALKING ABOUT THE NIGERIAN REVOLUTION

(Written in May, 2008)

For some months now, a debate started by an intellectual section of the bourgeois class, has been raging about the possibility and necessity of a revolution in Nigeria that will change the political state of the country. This call was again echoed by some section of the opposition. The human right community has also joined the campaign for a Nigerian revolution. But it is one thing to argue for a revolution, it is another to do so with sincerity and clear-cur definition about what a revolution means taking into cognizance the political-economic interest of the people raising such issue. The most vital aspect is the role of the labour movement and the level of the consciousness of the labour leadership.

The major basis for the call for revolution by a section of the bourgeois class is the concentration of power in the hands of tiny layer of the most conservative section of the capitalist class within the framework of the limited capitalist democracy. The emergence of civil rule in Nigeria has given many capitalist politicians hope of assessing political power through power rotation as witnessed in many advanced and semi–advanced democracies where two (or three) big party system operates. Unfortunately, the most conservative section of the ruling class represented by the ruling PDP was able to hold on to power despite its unpopularity for more than eight years. The so-called opposition (the other section of the capitalist ruling class) after losing all hope in all the state structures the electoral system, judiciary, etc, are looking for an opportunity to ride on the crest of mass anger to power. More than this, these calls for revolution are not vacuous; they are products of the pervasive frustration of the political class. It reflects the general angst of the people against the continuous bankruptcy of the political class to which the sidelined section of the ruling class fear a total blackout that may lead to the total ruin of the bourgeois class and the system it represents, especially at a period of serious mass movement.

Worth stating is the fact that this other section of the ruling class represented by the AD and the ANPP (formerly APP) which held some regional powers at the beginning of this civilian experiment (1999-2003) provided a basis for the popularity of the ruling party. The opposition parties which claimed to be progressive, despite the widespread support for their emergence, disappointed the poor masses which brought them to power. In fact most of these opposition parties initiated some of the anti-poor neo-liberal policies later massively implemented by the central ruling government of PDP/Obasanjo vis-à-vis retrenchment, privatization, attack on workers' union, commercialization, among other neo-liberal policies that deprive thousands of working people, basic living standards. Take for instance in the south-west Nigeria, most of the state governments that claimed to be social democrats (followers of the welfare state policy of Obafemi Awolowo – the leader of a progressive bourgeois parties of AG and UPN in the first and second republics) introduced diametrically opposite of what they claim to represent. Rather than create jobs, tens of thousands were axed in Osun, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos among others. Social infrastructures were at their lowest ebb while massive social and industrial investments witnessed during the '60s and '80s in the west were non-existent (even the remaining legacies like Oodua Investment were sapped up and mismanaged). In Osun state under Bisi Akande (now Action Congress AC, (forerunner of AD) National Chairman) over ten thousand jobs were axed with a whole working family (father, mother, and even children) retrenched. Labour movement was attacked. Yet, there is no serious investment in social infrastructures or the economy as education, health etc. were in their worst state while industrial investment were left in the hands of non-existent private sector. In Lagos State under Bola Tinubu (now a major leader and financier of AC), struggles for improved wages and against retrenchment of thousands of workers led to the death of a vibrant worker and retrenchment of labour leaders including Ayodele Akele. In Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo and Oyo States, the same policies were introduced and implemented.

These policy and ideological changes of the so-called “Awoists” led to their complete rejection by the masses except in Lagos State (being an economic centre) where general hatred for the Obasanjo/PDP central government overshadowed the anti-poor policies of the AD government, coupled with unprecedented use of monetary inducement and political patronage by the Bola Tinubu government (which were repeated in the 2007 elections). It is vital to state that the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies by the so-called ‘progressive’ opposition is not accidental; it is a reflection of the changing global situation exemplified by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Stalinist states. During the Cold War period, in an attempt to stave off social revolutions in many countries of Europe, America, Asia and especially Africa, the US and European Imperialism adopted a welfare state which gave the working poor an improved living standard through funding of education, health, full job provision (by the state) among others. This found echo in many African states (especially where the emerging nationalist capitalist class like in Nigeria were not prepared to challenge Imperialism) which led to many pro-welfare politicians and political structures emerging. This explained the existence of welfare state ideology in South-western Nigeria (and even some parts of East and North). This gave unprecedented popularity to the Obafemi Awolowo-led progressive regional government, when counter-posed to the less progressive governments in the East and conservative in the North (which was carried over till the second republic).

However, the collapse of the Stalinist states and subsequently the end of the Cold War gave capitalism globally the boldness to roll back the gains of welfare states in order to protect the capitalist profit. (This was accomplished with the transformation of former social democratic parties and left-leaning trade unions going to the right, with their leaderships justifying their jumping into the ship of capitalist triumphal-ism on the basis of collapse of the Soviet Union and east European countries – from Schroeder/SDP in Germany to Mitterrand/Socialist Party in France, Blair/Labour Party in Britain among others.) This uni-polar state led to further incorporation of the third world into the orbit of international capitalist exploitation through the politics of New World Order and capitalist globalization; and the establishment and strengthening of capitalist trade organizations (WTO, IFC, etc). No country could exist outside this orbit without a social revolution against imperialism. ”Welfarists" in Third World cannot be exceptions. Even many so-called left intellectuals and activists who could not explain what was happening in the Soviet Union – which is result of the absence of democratic management in the Soviet planned economy (that led to massive wastage and mis-direction of priority) coupled with failure of international socialist revolutions, all of which led to final collapse of Soviet Union and Stalinist Eastern Europe – relapsed into human "right-ism", finding a human face for capitalism or simply collapsed into neo-liberal capitalism.

This is the ideological basis of the failure of Awoism and welfarism in south west, which coupled with crass opportunism of the so-called Awoists (who were also looking for cheap wealth) led to their unpopularity and consequent political victory of the conservative central PDP government over the so-called opposition in the states controlled by the opposition. The arch-conservative was able to sustain its power through massive propaganda, use of brute force, patronage and corruption, among other. The ruling PDP party was able to manipulate all the structures of civilian state to entrench itself in power. It should be noted that the civil structures – the tiers and arms of government (judiciary, legislature and executive; federal, state and local governments), the law and constitution were structured to ensure the survival of the fittest while denying the masses the right to political power. Or how else can one explain the fact that the so-called Nigeria’s 1999 constitution that ask government to provide basic social facilities like free and quality education at all levels, free health at point of use, sufficient food security, old age care, etc did not make them enforceable even in the court of law while poor people are denied the right of forming their political party through obnoxious provisions of the constitution like denial of independent candidature, denial of localized and issue based political parties, monetization of party formation and election processes, among other undemocratic rules. In fact, the process of making and amending the constitution is structured in such a manner that it is the already strong capitalist ruling class (from the military makers of the 1999 constitutions to the "elected" legislature and the executive) that will have the right to do this. All this, coupled with the dual character of the opposition gave the ruling party the encouragement to implement anti-poor policies and privatize public wealth.

But there is limit to the extent to which the ruling party can ride roughshod on the people; there is a limit to how much the masses can bear their scrupulous pro-capitalist, neo-liberal anti-poor economic policies, which has ensured unprecedented wealth for the one percent rich few who have cornered over 80 percent of the nation's wealth. This is what led to their massive rejection in the 2007 elections. It was rejection of these anti-poor policies and a quest for political alternative that made the working poor to vote en mass for the opposition. But this is not to mean that the poor masses were ready to stake their lives for the so-called opposition who represent nothing different from the arch-conservative ruling parties; therefore the votes were only protest votes not a vote of confidence for the opposition parties. This explains why the ruling party emboldened by the lack of viable alternative was able to rig the 2007 elections massively and violently. The opposition members on the other hand, aside the fact that the masses were not actively supporting them, are also afraid to even raise the masses to their feet after the rigged elections (when there was a general anger against the rigging) because they fear that such a step can go beyond their wish such that the masses who having learnt from the anti-military struggles will request for far-reaching demands that can put opposition's interests in jeopardy. How will anybody expect the masses to risk their lives for the Bisi Akande (or Bola Tinubu who stood for the same anti-poor policies when they were in government), Atiku Abubakar (who only became the opposition when his economic and political interests were attacked by his compatriots in PDP) and Muahmmadu Buhari (an unrepentant anti-democrat)?

It is when it is clear that they (the opposition parties) could not get power through the structures of the state that started their call for a revolution. But when they talk about a revolution, they are not calling for a revolution where the masses will have independent power or that will lead to a fundamental socio-economic change. They are talking about a revolution that will restore them back to the vantage position they were able to reach during the June 12 (anti-military) struggles which they can then use to negotiate power. This was how they (along with their so-called revered ethnic leaders) manipulated the June 12 struggles to seek for political power from the military men while the masses were on the street. However, this is not to mean that all those calling for a revolution are doing so for pecuniary and selfish reasons. Some, especially the intellectual section, in a quest to ensure the survival of the capitalist system are calling for a "minimal" revolution that will restore some political changes and give a facade of civilized democratic society. This call for a revolution is a pre-emptive attempt by the rational section of the capitalist class to avoid a social uprising that will end capitalism altogether. But the limit of their perspective is shown in manner in which they advocate a Nigerian revolution – a revolution that will restore democratic system and true federalism.

But the problem the working masses are facing cannot be resolved through mere federalism. For instance, despite huge amount of money that had accrued to every tier of government for the past one year, no substantial improvement has come the way of the working masses. (For the past eight years, all tiers of governments including states have had over $100 billion which is enough, along with the material, agricultural and natural resources in each of the 36 states, to improve social infrastructures and develop the country economically. But, in all these states, it is a continuation of the anti-poor but pro-rich policies that put money at the pockets of the rich few at the expense of the majority.) The one year of the current administrations at all levels has shown that these elements cannot be different from the past. Take education, health, social infrastructure, cost of living, workers' welfare and job creation, there is no basic improvement. Despite the huge resources, only the rich are benefiting as billions are budgeted sustain the profit interests of the big business (most of whom are also in politics) while hundreds of billions of naira are dedicated to the capitalist politicians as salaries and emolument. While the working poor are groaning under increasing cost of living, the best the servant-leader could do is to impose a new regime of electricity tariff on the masses while giving billions for the big business in the name of stimulating non-existent private investment in the electricity sub-sector. It was the same private sector, along with the corrupt political class that looted billions of dollars (over $16 billion) during Obasanjo’s regime, which would have transformed the deplorable electricity state of the country.

Also, a new regime of fuel prices is to be implemented in a couple of weeks when the masses are even finding it difficult to survive on the current rate of fuel prices but this austerity measure is not extended to the business class who are given a whooping N17 billion by the servant-leader Yar'Adua. (Thus, putting more money in the hands of the states, including those controlled by the opposition, AC and ANPP, will, rather than improve the lots of the masses, leads to redistribution of the national cake between national and state (or regional) governments.) This is clearly a failure of the neo-colonial, neo-liberal capitalist system and not that of federalism. Of course, the current civilian system is faulty and need a serious reform but these reforms will not translate to better lives for the working masses unless the capitalist economic system that underlines the interests of the corrupt political class is removed. But this is exactly what the capitalist ideologists want to prevent. In fact, the same policies will be implemented if the so-called opposition parties are to be in power today.

It is important however to point out that the revolution the opposition and the bourgeois ideologues are clamouring for should be the traditional watchword of the labour movement, which in the Nigerian context is the pole of attraction for the working masses. This is clearly shown in the massive seven general strikes the labour movement led against some anti-poor policies of the Obasanjo government, especially fuel price hike. Despite these huge potentials, the labour leadership in Nigeria prefers to avoid raising an independent, working class political banner which will serve as a genuine alternative to the rotten politics that the opposition parties are playing. Even, the labour leaders avoided openly embracing a Labour Party formed by some labour leaders. Thus an ironic situation now emerged where clearly pro-capitalist politicians (who could not achieve their political agenda in the ruling parties) are now using the Labour Party to seek political power while Adams Oshiomhole, the erstwhile labour leader contested under a completely pro-capitalist opposition political party, Action Congress (AC). This has led to a situation in which the Labour Party has been hijacked by the capitalist politicians while the state chapters have either become redundant or appendages of various capitalist politicians. The other radical political parties like the National Conscience Party (NCP) and Democratic Alternative (DA), among others are either being hijacked by the right-wing elements and/or are politically inactive. The overall result of this is that the working masses are denied political structure of their own thus leaving their fate in the hands of various sections of the capitalist political class.

One would have expected a serious labour leadership to build a mass working people's party with a clearly genuine democratic socialist ideas (of public ownership of commanding height of the economy coupled with a democratic control of the economy and the political system by the working and poor people themselves at all levels, which will allow genuine planning based on people's interest). Such a party will stand for massive funding of free, quality and functional education and healthcare; secure and decent job provision (with adequate living wages and pension) for all able-bodied citizens; cheap, poor peasant-based, efficient, environmentally-friendly, agricultural system; massive public works – integrated transport system (road, rail, water and air), cheap, public housing, rural development, communication system, potable water system, etc – power and energy system (solar, wind, bio-waste, etc); all of which will rapidly develop the country and improve the living standard of the poor. (The party will ensure and campaign that all political office holders should earn average salaries of skilled workers and their families must use public infrastructures (public schools, hospitals, public transport). it will ensure that all public officers declare their financial status at regular times (e.g. every six months) and mobilise people to recall any erring officer. A workers’ party will campaign for a sovereign national conference comprising workers’ movements, students’ unions, peasants’ and artisans’ association, professional groups, ethnic nationalities, etc, democratically elected, to draw a genuine constitution reflecting the collective will of the people to either live together voluntary or otherwise.) This kind of programmatic demands will inspire massive interests of not only the working masses but also the youth, students, artisans, peasants, etc. With direct involvement of the trade union movement and support of other oppressed layer, it will be easy to make such a party a viable revolutionary movement capable of dislodging politically and ideologically. The party will also be able to survive financially.

Despite the huge resources to achieve all this, the capitalist ruling class, in the quest for profit will never provide them. This explains why the public take-over and democratic control and management of the societal resources (natural, human, material and monetary) become more necessary to ensure the implementation of these far-reaching programmes. Such a revolutionary party, through democratic mass organization from the grass roots to the national level (as against the elitist and moneybag politics of the capitalist parties that foist the rich men’s decision on the members without their democratic input), will link its programmes with the day-to-day struggles of the working people (in strikes, rallies, protests, pickets, etc) and thus build a rank-and-file base for the party. It will also be easy to build a political alliance with the left-wing sections of some radical parties. Furthermore the party will open its doors to rank and file of the armed forces (police, military, Custom, etc) and defend their rights to join and participate in political activities while also demanding democratization of the armed forces under the control of the rank and file, and the community. With a massive working people's participation, it will be dangerous for the any ruling party to rig an election won by such a party. At this stage, it is either the capitalist class surrender power peacefully or risks a direct social revolution. This is the clear path to truly building revolution in Nigeria.

This however does not imply that the road will be smooth or that this process is a special formula that can be adopted in a day and yield result in a month or two. It is a long-term programme meant to inspire a political discussion and debate among the progressive youth, pro-labour activists and labour leaders with a serious working class political plan. There may be setbacks, even schism within such a party (as various trends – ultra-left, right-wing, pseudo-radicals, etc will emerge) while the ruling class will even try to create moles within such a party. The examples of many countries with workers' parties (which are now more pro-capitalist than even the main capitalist parties – New Labour in Britain, PS in France, PT in Brazil, etc) which have fallen back to capitalism can be cited as a basis to ignore a call for a workers' party. But it is a known fact that most of these ex-workers' parties, while formerly having a mass, working class base, were controlled by a pro-capitalist leaders, (with a top-down system of operation) most of whom are only serving as a balancing force for capitalism. With a working class, bottom-top democratic policies of a truly mass workers' party, it will be a different matter. But the most of the labour leaders are not even ready for debate on the political role of labour movement.

Even, the industrial policies of these labour leaders are such that they prefer to fight for piece-meal demands of workers while the fundamental issues are left unaddressed. For instance, the same labour leaders that condemn retrenchment are not against privatization and commercialization which are the basis of this retrenchment. The only demand of most labour leaders (either at local, sectoral or national level) is that the labour issues should be addressed whenever any public utility is to be privatized or concessioned. But privatization and commercialization are means to cut cost and provide the big business with huge profit through attack on workers' rights. Even, when labour leaders condemn retrenchment, their ultimate demand is that workers should pay their terminal entitlements, not that they should not be retrenched. In many states and industries, the labour leaders are mostly conduit pipes to force governments’ or managements' anti-worker policies on workers. This set of labour leaders cannot be expected to develop interest in independent working class alternative, unless pushed by the working people. Currently, the central labour unions, despite the attacks on the working masses by the current government, prefer a strategic partnership with the same government. Despite all this treachery of labour leadership, the working and poor masses still follow the labour leadership in any struggle. This is not an endorsement for their treacherous policies, but a product of the evolving mood of the masses.

In conclusion, it is clear that the working masses will again rise and struggle against the anti-poor policies of the Yar'Adua government and its clones in states, and such struggles will again bring the issue of a revolution into focus as they will realise that various section of the capitalist class cannot resolve any of the problems confronting humanity. The Nigerian revolution needed is not the one that will place the power in the hands of another section of the capitalist class, but in the working and poor people of Nigeria who create the wealth but are denied the fruit of their labour. It is the task of the pro-labour and genuinely progressive, pro-democracy activists and youth to start campaigning for a working peoples' political platform. They should campaign that the labour movement should call the summit of labour organizations, pro-labour and pro-democracy organizations, socialists groups, progressive students' movement, etc., where the political issues will be discussed. The problem with the masses is not lack of revolutionary will and political understanding but the absence of a genuine leadership.

8. Nigeria: Ekiti’s Political Drama; A Reflection

Written May, 2009

* (The rerun election in Ekiti State is herein referred. The election was ordered by the court of appeal after up to two years of post-election litigation where it was found that the elections was rigged in about 55 local wards in 11 local government areas. The rerun election was centrally between the ruling PDP candidate, Segun Oni and the main opposition party, AC candidate Kayode Fayemi, was dogged by worse violence, corruption and arm-twisting such that the septuagenarian resident electoral officer, Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo had to resign openly as a protest against the massiveness and illogicality of the rigging. This seriously undermined the federal government which arm-twisted her through her son (a political appointee in government) to retract her resignation and allow the rigging and vote crunching.)

In all ramifications, the young and old people of Ekiti State were great in the just concluded governorship rerun election. When one considers the barrage of terror and the fascist-like character of ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state, then one will appreciate the resilience and doggedness of our Ekiti compatriots. The heroism of the Ekiti working and poor people even propelled the state leading opposition party, Action Congress (AC) leaders including the governorship candidate (Dr. Kayode Fayemi) to lead protests against the electoral coup of the ruling party, the PDP. The declaration of the PDP’s agent of retrogression as the governor (Segun Oni) of the peasant state after ten years of civilian horrors is a setback for the courageous people of Ekiti. Moreover, the pyrrhic victory of the PDP in the Ekiti rerun electoral coup is a setback to the Nigerian working and toiling people’s genuine wish to end the miseries in their daily. Therefore, the Ekiti re-run tragedy has clearly laid bare the fact that there cannot be any so-called “peaceful” (mere voting and legal action) resolution of the contradictions that currently define Nigeria’s political landscape. The Ekiti election crisis has again given a clear lesson for those who still nurse the illusion in the ability of some section of the ruling party, especially the president to listen to reason. Despite all attempt by President Umar Yar’Adua and his kitchen cabinet to present themselves as innocent of the crimes of their brethren in southwest, it is clear that they are all linked to the Ekiti electoral coup.

(That the ruling party could continue with wanton violence against the people despite all embarrassment and disgrace this has caused it including various judgments of the courts that are usually characterized by serious indictment and insults on the ruling party, its rigging machine (INEC) and its candidates, shows that the party has no iota of dignity. After a disgraceful conduct of the 2007 elections which necessitated the rerun elections, the ruling PDP in collusion with the electoral body, INEC has no shame in violently rigging itself in again. That the ruling party cannot implement pro-poor policies in the state within two years that could have given it at least sympathy votes shows that inasmuch as these set of people continue to rule, there cannot be any way forward for the people.)

While several reports by the monitoring agencies, both local and international, fingered the police chief and many PDP bigwigs in rotten connivance to thwart people’s will, the president looked the other way. The same president, in a cynical but hypocritical manner, rather than clamp down on those fingered in the rigging spree claimed by Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo (the resident electoral chief in the state) in her letter, issued a statement begging Mrs. Adebayo “to follow her conscience” (?) while working behind the scene to force her to retract her resignation pronouncement. Few days later, some electoral staffs who worked in the most controversial local government (Ido-Osi) were fingered in a N250 million bribery scandal. (It was reported in national newspapers that each polling officer was allegedly given N250, 000 as “fringe benefit” by a leading official of the PDP government in Ekiti State.) While the bribe takers were so confident in their composure about the bribery, the president, in the name of zero-tolerance to corruption did not deem it fit to establish a full fledge probe into the finances of the INEC officials. If INEC staffs could take N250 million and felt no qualms, what then is expected at the top echelon of this body, taking into cognizance the arbitrary actions taken by INEC leaders to ruin people’s will.

The so-called promise by Yar’Adua to order probe of the bribery is only in response to public outcry that had dogged his government’s so-called anti-corruption and re-branding smokescreen. The same way the several other probes and committees have been set-up to silence the public and launder government’s image, all of which ended in futility; the same fate will befall this so-called probe, if it is ever started. At best, it will be a slap in the wrist for many of the officers and a cover-up for the big shots in government and INEC. This is time for the labour movement to expose Yar’Adua’s hypocrisy by demanding an open probe and trial where the public will bring all evidence against all culprits in the Ekiti electoral mishap including police and INEC officers, politicians, etc. But to Umaru Yar’Adua, the end justifies the means; inasmuch as its party can get away with blue murder, while claim “the holier than thou”. The same president, who promised not to use the army to secure election later, used the same military men to repress protests arising from the electoral coup. A reasonable government should know that prioritizing political and social justice is the only way to secure the society.

The National Assembly, comprising mostly of PDP members that is also playing the saints could not explain what five of its members including two from outside the state were doing in Ekiti during the election, when there was no official assignment given to them even as accredited observers. Yet, all of them were fingered in one form of violence or the other. One of them, Isiaka Adeleke who claimed to be acting in the capacity of a senate committee chairman on INEC, failed to tell the world he had already criminally endorsed the villain of the millennium – Maurice Iwu and his INEC. Also, the house of representative speaker, Dimeji Bankole had previously bragged about the ruling PDP’s ability to use the military to rig Ekiti elections. This same individual has been junketing the world, representing the nation in fora discussing democratic sustenance, collecting huge estacodes and travel allowances, but openly inviting the military to perpetrate civilian coup. Tragic-comically, it is this same national assembly, majority of whom were rigged to senate and house of representatives that will “reform” the electoral system! Will it not be more realistic for labour leaders campaigning for electoral reform to rely on mass mobilization for a referendum than appealing to the so-called legislature?

The Ekiti election also shows the clear limitation of the PDP-led neo-colonial establishment. The rabid manners in which the PDP nationally, especially in south-west, intervened in the election shows that these elements cannot just move this nation forward an inch. To its strategists, losing Ekiti after being ousted in Ondo and Edo by mass of people (and the courts) is the same as opening a floodgate for mass rejection of PDP in the south west and indeed in the whole country. They know that judiciary with its integrity crisis (even its most pliable section) cannot safe them at critical time, so they relied on brazen use of state coercive power. Behind their desperate attempt to sustain themselves in power is the total failure to lift the working poor from penury in the past two years of Yar’Adua and PDP state governments, despite huge resources at their disposal. The manner in which they rigged the Ekiti election clearly reflects what will happen when they face total resistance from the people – possibly route for military coup.

One thing that has stood out in the whole election brouhaha is the gallantly of the working and poor people of Ekiti. They, like other genuinely minded Nigerian will do, rejected the PDP. They also protested the subversion of their wish. Note that every vote against the PDP is a vote against the dysfunctional state of the country; against capitalist neo-liberal policies and particularly a vote in search of a change. The electoral coup plotters could not even associate openly with the “victory” – they could hardly come out to celebrate the pyrrhic victory – a reflection of prevailing mass anger. However, we should ask ourselves, why were people defeated despite their gallantry? Or should we assume that the ruling class will always have its way as some pundits are inferring? The answer to these questions lies in the character of the opposition party and its figures.

As it has been earlier posited that one thing that an average Nigerian will wish is the ouster of PDP – a monster party from governance. Therefore, like in every society the main opposition Action Congress (AC) is seen as expression of people’s hatred for the ruling party. But this hatred for the ruling party is not the same as acceptance of the AC as the political organ of transformation for the people. While people see AC as a party that has the wherewithal (political structure, finance, etc) to fight the much-despised PDP, they do not see the AC as their party: the party that can fulfill their ultimate desire for an egalitarian society; a party they can live and die for. The party is seen as a better bourgeois (big man) party with Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ex-Lagos State governor) as its strong man. In fact, the AC cannot be said to stand on the same pedestal as UPN (Unity Party of Nigeria) in terms of policies, programmes and acceptance. (The UPN is the main opposition party in the second republic (1979-1983) led by a progressive welfarist politician, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The party has distinct social welfarist policies as against other bourgeois parties with mass base among the mass of workers and poor people. AC (and the AD before it) claims lineage to UPN.)

Take Lagos State for instance, while Jakande’s UPN government embarked on massive housing projects (with over 20, 000 housing units to its credit) and free education at elementary level (and subsidized tertiary education) and healthcare, the AC government of Mr. Bola Tinubu and its successor, Babatunde Fashola on the other hand, sold public houses, and where they build some, they are for the highly rated middle and high class while education especially tertiary education are commercialized. While Fashola’s government has embarked on some commendable road constructions, the reality is that this still falls short of radical changes the society needed despite huge wealth at the disposal of the state (more than N16 billion monthly). Moreover, its Mega-city project has meant attack on some workers (health workers, teachers, etc) and petty traders. For instance, Lagos State under Fashola is one of the states that have not implemented the meagre 27.5 percent increase in teachers’ salaries under the TSS while it has refused to concede to the demands of doctors in the state for salary increase and better facilities. In fact, the leader of the resident doctors’ union was attacked and beaten up under the directive of the state government while trying to enforce the strike. Several members of the union that joined the strike were summarily sacked by the government until it was compelled to reverse itself; while attempts were made to castrate the union. Today, several shops of the poor have been demolished without compensation or provision for alternative while elitist shopping complexes are being constructed under the dubious public/private partnership to replace the poor people’s markets under the Mega-city Project. At the end, it is big party members that will own these shops.) Can this then make the poor people in Lagos identify AC as their own party?

The AC, while as an opposition party may mouth some slogans that sound populist, stand for the same pro-capitalist, neo-liberal policies like PDP. AC has shown its commitment to privatization, commercialization, deregulation, etc even more than PDP. While the then AD governors (now AC leaders) in the south west pioneered retrenchment in the current civilian experiment (between 1999 and 2003), the Fashola government is a pioneer in the concession of public roads to private managers – a daylight robbery. This explains why the likes of Atiku Abubakar (a former vice president under Obasanjo/PDP government), who as chairman of National Council on Privatization, presided over the criminal handing out of public properties to private hands for over six years, could easily become a favourite of AC as presidential candidate in 2007 in the name of fighting PDP. This same Atiku has a private university, ABTI-American University where students pay over a million naira as fees. While Nigerians are disgusted with the use of N1.2 trillion as politicians’ salaries, AC’s politicians in power did not raise highbrow on this official robbery or even cut the salaries of their public officials. AC, like the ruling party, also used billions to fund elections. The question is: where do these billions come from? Is it donations? Whoever foots the bill, it is people that will pay the price through bogus salaries for politicians and inflated contract to supporters and financiers.

In Ekiti State where AC was actually leading in the poll, what manner does the AC brought to the contest? Historically, the state found itself in the current mess as a result of the false economic and political policies of AD (now AC) as a ruling party in the southwest Nigeria including Ekiti State in 1999-2003. Despite the economic and political bankruptcy of the Obasanjo/PDP government in moving the nation forward in its first tenure, the AD leaders heavily mobilised for him (Obasanjo) under the false but backward pretence of supporting their ethnic brother, and an absurd promise by Obasanjo of insuring their emergence as governors (and the south-west governments’ access to the federal government). This is the same Obasanjo’s federal government that could not explain how the nation’s chief law officer who doubled as the leader of AD, Mr. Bola Ige was murdered in 2001!

Furthermore, it was the abysmal performance of the Niyi Adebayo’s AD government in Ekiti that drove the people to the hands of PDP marauders ably led by Ayo Fayose. Incidentally, this state and neighbouring Ondo State were led successfully by late Adekunle Ajasin/UPN government between 1979 and 1983 under the old Ondo State. Despite fewer resources, Ajasin’s government was able to implement free education and healthcare, while the man lived an austere life. Ajasin was so popular that an attempt by the federally ruling NPN government (the forerunner of PDP today) to rig him out in 1983 election led to mass revolt that forced the judiciary to order his victory. Can the same thing be said of today’s AC leaders?) Funny enough, the same AC leaders that led campaigns against the repressive but highly corrupt Ayo Fayose’s government uncritically embraced him into the Fayemi’s campaign.

This dual character of opposing the PDP’s monstrosity while also sharing its feature can not make the people, traumatized for ten years to prepare to defend the party with their blood. This however does not mean that they will not vote for the opposition or protest rigging, because their hatred for the PDP will to an extent overshadows the contradiction of the opposition. Such rejection of the ruling party will continue inasmuch as anti-poor policies are implemented. But the protest without a viable organization to organize people into sustainable mass political movement against the continued emergence of Segun Oni, will not lead to ouster of PDP. While AC wants people to protest against the ruling party, at the same time it does not want the protest to challenge the foundation of neo-liberalism neither will it allow people’s direct control of the party. At best, it wants to use the threat of mass movement to get concession from the ruling party. This explains why an average Ekiti indigene will want to vote AC but not join AC even passively. This is reflected in the result of the elections in Ekiti. While it can be claimed that the first round of elections in April 2007 were rigged and electoral materials manipulated, this should have at least embolden a stronger interest in Ekiti people’s defence of the votes in this re-run election such that the PDP’s camel would have had to pass through a needle’s eye in order to manipulate Ido-Osi; at least, a caricature experience of the Ajasin era. That the PDP could adequately rigged out AC in places like Ijero shows there is a kind of disillusionment in political parties especially the opposition by the people. Even in places where AC won like Irepodun/Ifelodun, it was with a minimal margin.

The fake tactics of AC only accentuate this contradiction. While AC leaders rejected the use of military as a ploy to rig the election, they kept quiet on the character of the Police thus portraying it as acceptable coercive force. But everyday, the newspaper is awash with police’s abuse of people’s rights which its hierarchies are eager to justify or cover. While it may be correct to oppose the use of military for election, as this confers a messianic title on the military – a good recipe for military intervention – the best way to stop rigging is to form election vigilante groups in communities. This will confer power to the people who will see the election as theirs and not that of a ‘lesser evil’ party or candidate. Comically, after failing in its false policies and tactics, AC was relying on the “conscience” of Mrs. Ayoka Adebayo – who first pretended as a sincere official only to ‘retrace her steps’ when her family’s economic interest are threatened – for its victory rather than organizing mass protests until the fraudulent results are thrown to the trashcan. Dependence on personal quality of politician in a country where selfish political interest and nepotism pre-dominate is a reflection of either political stupidity or underlining treachery.

What happened in Ekiti is not an isolated case. In Osun State, while people courageously rejected the anti-poor, repressive Oyinlola/PDP government, as seen in massive support for AC’s Rauf Aregbesola, the false policy of AC has only embolden the ogre of terror and corruption in Osun State in connivance with the judiciary, to further attack people with over 400 people (mostly AC supporters) thrown to detention. While there were spontaneous protests against the rigging spree in 2007 in parts of the state, especially in Osogbo and Ilesa, the party could not organize people’s anger into a consistent movement in the state and provide a genuine alternative to every Oyinlola’s anti-poor policy. This definitely created dichotomy between people and political parties, especially the opposition. While Rauf Aregbesola resides in Lagos permanently, the party (AC) prefers to ‘fight the battle’ in the tribunal’s courtroom.

The Ekiti debacle again underlined the absence of a mass working people’s party which has made the AC, another dyed-in-the-wood neo-liberal party, to become the main opposition party. It is only a working class party that is democratically built from the grass roots to the national levels with a clear programme of socio-economic transformation that can lead people out of the misery of neo-liberalism and capitalism. Such a party will counter-pose public ownership of the economic under the democratic control of the working people and the consumers to the ruinous privatization; massive public works – massive building and equipping of schools (and provision of free and quality education at all levels); free, adequately and well equipped healthcare system); cheap public housing; potable water system; integrated and environmentally-friendly energy system (hydro, solar, wind, tidal and biomass); poor-peasant-based, mechanized and environmentally-friendly agricultural system; etc – to commercialization and retrenchment; among others. The party will counter-pose moneybag politics to a rank and file party politics. This party will not limit itself to electoral issues but will champion every struggle of the common people from the grassroots to the national level. This kind of party will definitely have to adopt anti-capitalist, revolutionary policies which will put the resources of the nation, over 80 percent of which is in the hands of just one percent, at the disposal of a working people’s government for the development of the society. Such a party will have to draw its members and funding from workers, peasants, petty traders, artisans, unemployed, students and youth unlike other parties that rely on moneybags’ funding and subvention from INEC for survival. This is the challenge before the working class leadership and activists.

On the other hand, the labour leadership’s so-called political neutrality is a recipe for opportunism. While central labour unions’ leadership appeals to sentiment of Yar’Adua, it at the same time uncritically supports the opposition’s fight against the PDP government. Its leaderships at the state levels only use the veil of neutrality to support the ruling party and government. The labour leadership should divert its energy to convening a national summit of working class organizations, peasant and petty trader movements, artisan organizations, students and youth movements, pro-democracy organizations, socialist movements, leftwing parties, self-determination groups, etc where political future of the poor people will be fashioned out. Such a summit will evolve from similar ones from local, state and regional sections, with membership democratically determined. Without a conscious political action of the labour and working class activists, what happened in Ekiti will only be a dress rehearsal for a serious catastrophe in 2011, as the corrupt ruling class represented by PDP will build up arsenal to sustain itself in power while the working people will be seeking an alternative. Without a radical political alternative of the working people, 2011 may lead to another setback and defeat for the working and poor people with far-reaching consequences. While the LASCO planned protest rallies are commendable, this should lead to the fermentation of a radical alternative for the working people. It is only this platform that can defeat the fast emerging neo-colonial fascism.

9. Boko Haram and a Working class alternative

Written August, 2009

A government that has destroyed the foundation of a sane society will find it comfortable to vent its frustration on the symptom of the decay than redressing itself. This actually captured the recent mass slaughter of members of the Boko Haram sect.

The manner in which the media addresses the issue is worrying. While reports revealed that over 700 people were killed in Borno State alone and several houses destroyed, public commentators especially the media concentrated on the criminal murder of the head of the sect, Muhammed Yussuf. There were attempts to obscure who actually killed hundreds of people while there seems to be a sigh of relief after the mass murder and in fact the murder of Muhammed, that at least the ‘terrorists have been subsumed. But, is this a civilized way of resolving social crisis? Aside the over fifteen Christians and few policemen reported to have been gruesomely murdered, and scores of churches and public institutions, by the senseless Boko Haram sect, there was no full report to indicate who killed the remaining several hundreds. But according to a conversation with Yussuf before his murder, it is clear that it was the police and the army that were behind the orgy of terror on Maiduguri and other cities in the north, despite all attempt to put this on the Boko Haram (no matter the wildness of the group). The whitewashing, through reports, of police and army by the media is dangerous and has the capacity to set the society in more serious and vicious crises.

As far as I’m concerned, the killing in hundreds of ordinary members of the sect is far more heinous than the death of Muhammed Yussuf even going by the “logic” of the advocate of “peace”. Moreover, several members of the group may not completely understand the ideas of the sect as media report even confirmed that many were coerced by the sect leaders. There is possibility of factions within the sect, as Yussuf himself, as media reports suggested, hijacked the sect from some former leaders. Consequently, any genuinely minded person should hold the police, the military and the government (both state and federal) responsible for the crisis. This however does not absolve the sect especially its leaders and their faceless backers, who started the crisis, of blame. But the point must be made that majority of the dead in the crisis were murdered in cold blood by government agencies, with government officials including the minister of information, relishing in the euphoria of victory. In fact, some soldiers, policemen and indeed military officials, themselves awed by the degree of brutality, were forced to reveal some classified information, including footage and pictures of the killings, data on number of people and houses destroyed and the involvement of political officers.

To add insult to injury, the dead were mass buried by the army and the police obviously to avoid a full investigation on the manner and circumstances of their death or even allow their family members to identify their corpses. Some of the dead are breadwinners in their families; how will government help their families to survive when the bodies of their breadwinners have been covered up. The excuse of the police authorities that the bodies are decomposing and could not be preserved simply underlines the lack of basic health facilities in the country which reinforces the failure of governance in Nigeria. Only a sick society will feel relieved that a graveyard peace was achieved on the carcasses of over seven hundred lives.

The criminal manner of handling the Boko Haram issue should not be seen as a crudeness of policemen and foot soldiers on the ground alone, but that of the Nigerian state. Immediately the riot started, Yar’Adua was quick to sanction the use of maximum force to quell the crisis. Immediately after the murder of Yussuf, the information and communication minister, Dora Akunyili, throwing caution to the wind, asked Nigerian to be happy that at least the riots have been put down even if in the most criminal manner. Therefore, the removal of Police Commissioner in Borno State and the so-called probe panel set up by Yar’Adua is a smokescreen to silence critics of the mass murder. How can a government that ordered and justified the mass murder set up a panel to probe the killing. Reports have shown that the government including Yar’Adua and the police ignored several red signals sent by the State Security Service (SSS) on the activities of this sect while the judiciary and the highly ‘powerful’ individuals who protected this and other sects are indictable. Will the probe panel expose Yar’Adua government’s dereliction of duty too? The SSS that is playing holier than thou is itself indictable. It is this same SSS that kidnaps and detain workers’ and students’ activists without trial but could not reveal the reports on this sect to the public before the crisis.

But why will a government prefer to kill its own citizens in order to achieve “peace”? In the first instance, Yar’Adua government is in serious crisis. The Niger Delta has refused all government ridiculous solutions, workers’ organizations are in continual battle with it, there is widespread public rejection of the government, all basic facilities especially electricity have remained debacles for the government, and indeed the government itself is held at the jugular by various centrifugal trends of the ruling and big business class. Consequently, the Boko Haram crisis only helped the government to divert attention from these central issues. This is not new. Whenever government fined itself in a fix, it uses various means to engage the attention of the people; and no thank to our pro-ruling class media; government most times has its way.

Secondly, for a seriously weakened government which has failed in all ramifications, use of brute force helps it to show fake strength and also send jitters to the spines of its opponents and critics. Use of brute force against Boko Haram sect is meant to send message to all ‘dissidents’ of government that the status quo cannot be challenged. One should not be surprised when police and army are deployed against striking workers or protesting youth and students; the precedence have already being set. Thirdly, the heavy attack on Maiduguri helps the anti-poor government to justify billions budgeted for military and defence, most of which find their ways to the account of big business and their acolytes in politics. In 2008 alone, the budget for defence of over N440 billion was more than the budgets for education and health.

There have been reports that highly placed individuals provide fund to this sect. It is an open secret that various crises in the country have been fueled by sections of the ruling class who uses the agitations to further their nests. For instance, in the early 1980’s, destitute were mobilised to the streets by Kano feudal oligarchy to cause mayhem when the Abubakar Rimi/PRP government issued a query to the emir which led to the death of Bala Muhammed. In the south-south, several official and unofficial reports confirmed the roles played politicians in fueling oil bunkering, kidnapping and fake militancy. More than this, it is pertinent to state that the rise and growth of wild religious sects such as Boko Haram were engendered by northern ruling class and Nigerian government. It will be recalled that some years back, many northern governors, including Umar Yar’Adua, were the advocates of the Sharia law; thus setting the foundation for divisive religious fundamentalism. While it is true that people have right to self-determination, the reality is that the implementation of Sharia is ill-conceived and fraudulent. The claim of the governors that they prefer to use Sharia is outlandish. Where was any referendum conducted to determine whether the people in these states wanted Sharia law? How will these politicians tell us that jobless youth or poor worker will prefer Sharia to job or better living conditions? The reality is that the northern section of Nigerian ruling class, fearful of losing power completely to their southern counterpart, needed to hold on to a divisive stake which they can pull anytime in order to continue to have share in the national loot.

With pervasive poverty and misery in the north and the country as a whole, religious bigotry engendered by the northern ruling class has blossomed into full blown fundamentalism with various smaller sections of the ruling class using it to fester their pecuniary interests while younger disillusioned minds, who have been deprived of basic living means have found solace in religious fundamentalism. The northern oligarchy, having achieved their aim of controlling power, now sees religious bigotry, the seed of which they sowed, as a fetter to their interests. Thus they have to curb it even if it involves destroying a whole city. It is worth stating that many of these northern ruling elites who introduced the Sharia are as fraudulent and corrupt as their southern colleagues. Most of the governors and legislators in the north were rigged into office with billions of looted behind this. This is bound to continue in 2011 if there is no genuine working class platform with a socialist orientation to defeat neo-colonial capitalism. The problem with Nigeria is not implementation of one Sharia or another stricter law, but with the ruling capitalist class and the neo-colonial, neo-liberal capitalist system they represent, which has continued to ‘legal’ (through over-bloated salaries, allowances and contracts) and illegal looting put the huge public wealth in the hands of the tiny ruling clique while the poor continue to rot in poverty, misery and squalor.

The Boko Haram sect riot will not be the last in the country, going by the facts on ground and nature of ruling class in the country. It is worth stating that the wanton destruction of lives and properties in the north in the name of curtailing fundamentalism will further fueled anger amongst the people of the area and the north in general, most of whom have seen nothing positive about Nigeria. Critically examined, the idea of Boko Haram (western education is a taboo) reflect the rotten state of the country. How will you tell a young man of twenty years of age that western education is good when all those who passed through schools have either being forced to drop out as a result of lack of studying facilities, low morale of teachers, joblessness for educated few and poverty? How will you tell a young chap of 20 years, who have not seen the wonders of titration in the chemistry laboratory or what mechanical advantage means, that public education is good. For the past ten years of civilian rule, nothing could be shown as gain of civilian rule in the country. Thus, a young boy of 10, 15 or 20 years is a potential religious fundamentalist, ethnic militant or social miscreant. You only need to visit public places in Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcout, Ibadan, etc. to see army of potential social miscreants. For the north, it is even worse. With education rates very low while gainful jobs are hard to come by, Boko Haram and other religious crises before it are natural expectations.

Successive ruling classes who have held sway in the country at least for the past ten years should be held responsible for the various crises country. While the reactionary ruling class in the north was quick to introduce Sharia law, in order to retain their privileges, provision of free and quality education, healthcare and gainful employment for the youth are ade elusive. It should be recalled that tens of thousand of jobs are provided for the northerners by various medium-sized industries in the region. Today, the remaining big firm, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria is already in doldrums. Yet, a few moneybags have emerged from the north through corrupt politics. Despite over N20 trillion that had accrued to the nation’s purse, nothing could be shown in terms of social infrastructures, but the ruling class was content with officially looting of over N5 trillion naira from the coffer: for salaries alone. Rather than put under the democratic public ownership, the collapsed firms especially the over 820 industries, banks and corruptly run big companies, the Nigerian ruling class have continued to loot more. In the past two years of Yar’Adua’s rule, over N4 trillion had accrued to the purse of the country. This amount coupled with massive exploitation of the various resources in the country, reduction of salaries of political officers to workers’ level and retrieval of trillions stolen by public officials, could to improve the social infrastructures of the country – free and quality public education at all levels; free health; massive industrialization (through public ownership) and provision of public infrastructures – sustainable energy and power sector (solar, wind, hydro, biomass, etc), integrated transport system (rail, water, expanded road), environmentally-sustainable, poor peasant-based, mechanized agricultural and agro-industrial system, massive but cheap public housing, etc. But do you expect a government instituted by corruption and based on neo-liberal capitalism to do this. Those who have continued to loot the country are strutting round the country, yet another $4 billion (about N600 billion) is to be shared by the tiers of government.

It should however be raised that the Boko Haram crisis is not a special case but like every reactionary and far-right group, is a product of pervasive disillusionment. In the absence of genuine revolutionary mass organization that will galvanize the anger of the working and poor people together for a total aim of effecting a radical change, far-right and backward groups in the form religious, ethnic or racial colourations are bound to grow. In Nigeria, while we have Boko Haram in the north, there are several other religious and ethnic jingoist groups in the south which divert the genuine anger of the people on ethnic and regional lines. While we have Niger Delta militants in the creeks, there are many Yoruba jingoist groups in the south west and Igbo secessionists in the south-east. Of course, there should be right of self-determination, the reality is that without a genuine revolutionary, socialist mass organization of the working people, even secession can bring more miseries than under a repressive state. For instance, while Niger Delta militants complains about the use of oil resources, the monies realized by the militants from oil bunkering do not go to the poor people of the region but only in the service of few clique of gun-wielding thugs, their godfathers and multinational collaborators.

On the other hand, experience have shown that when the masses through their organizations like NLC and LASCO embark on national struggles, ethnic cum religious jingoist tendencies are subsumed. Experiences outside the country also give credence to this. For instance, in Europe and America, there are far-right tendencies which tend to divert the agitation of the people for better living to racial lines without providing a genuine way for the European poor. However, with a strong working class movement, especially in the 1980’s, many of these groups are unpopular. However, in the last European elections, as a result of growing misery of millions of European working class coupled with weakness of the Left and socialist forces and with the treachery of labour leadership, some far-rights are gaining prominence, especially in Britain where two far-right candidates in the BNP won elections to the European parliament. Notwithstanding this, facts reveal that where there are strong socialist and working class forces like in Dublin, Ireland where socialist Joe Higgins contested and won in the European parliamentary elections, far-right tendencies hardly surfaced. Racial and far-right tendencies show their strength at a period of social and economic crises which require a radical intervention of the working class organizations (which are not provided). It should also be recalled that the failure of communist forces to lead the masses, through a non sectarian united front approach (with social democratic party and unions) to a revolutionary change led to the triumph of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi forces in Germany. (See Leon Trotsky’s writings of German revolution and fascism. – K I))

All this point to one thing: working and poor people need a fighting organization that will raise the demands of the working people for a genuine government in Nigeria. This is the time for labour and pro-labour organizations to build a working class political party that will demand public ownership of commanding height of the economy under the democratic control of the working people themselves which will provide adequate resources to make lives better for the poor people. The current protest marches of the labour and civil society across the country should naturally lead to this. There is also urgent need to restructure the labour movement across the country (especially the state chapters and affiliates) so as to serve as a fighting platform of the working people which will link the anger of the poor people across the country rather than being diverted to reactionary ethnic lines. This is the central challenge now!

10. Gani Fawehinmi: Not yet a postscript

Written in October, 2009

The title is taken from an earlier writing by Dr. Olatunji Dare in his opinion article on Chief Gani Fawehinmi (herein called Gani). He titled the article ‘Gani: A Postscript’. This suggests a tendency to end the debate and discussion about the enigma of Gani with his burial. This explains why many so-called notable Nigerians were falling over themselves to participate in the orgy of accolade for the man before he was buried. Gani is not just another important personality that will be celebrated for just few days and then forgotten. Gani represented an idea of change, the exploration of which is vital for the future of the millions Nigerians and Africans he represented and defended during his lifetime. To the Nigerian ruling class, their apologists and followers who represented what Gani fiercely fought against, his burial was a big relief. To the fake political heirs of Gani, debates must end with a call for ‘masses to fight for their rights’. However, to his millions of fans and supporters, who constitute the poor working masses of Nigeria and Africa, Gani was a revolutionary working class tribune. For this reason the exploration of his life is vital for the working class activists and youth seeking to defeat capitalism, especially in this era of neo-liberal madness and utter failure of Nigeria’s and indeed Africa’s backward ruling classes.

That the late Gani was enigmatic was confirmed by the torrent of tribute to his memory by millions of Nigerians. (According to a newspaper report (Sun Newspaper), there are over 1 million mention of Gani Fawehinmi’s death online) Despite the attempt of some of the media to concentrate on the 'eminent personalities' view (a term Gani himself openly ridiculed) of Gani, the reality is that it was the poor, the working people, students and youth who actually gave the honour to Gani. One thing is significant in Gani's life, which could only be found in another enigmatic personality, Fela Anikulapo Kuti: he stood against all corrupt and anti-poor governments from the beginning to the end. As Fela had hitherto sung, it was 'no agreement today, no agreement tomorrow' to see fellow African suffer in the midst of abundance. For young people looking for role model and to develop a genuine and resolved mind for social change, this aspect of Gani's life is a shinning example. Young people, especially our students, should know that it is not how decently dubious you are or your commitment to the current iniquitous capitalist system that can earn you eternal honour, but commitment to the common cause for an egalitarian society where public resources will be used for common good.

It is worth stating that Gani did not venture into the human rights and pro-democracy struggle as a rich man. In fact, he started the human rights struggle, as early as 1969, far before human rights activism became a thriving industry. It was only the contradiction of the unjust capitalist arrangement of his profession that produced a capitalist out of Gani. It is apposite to say that he would have altogether become a richer man, if he had not ventured into the life-risking human rights and pro-democracy struggles. Exceptionally, rather than being carried away by the wealth, Gani was able to resolve the contradiction to a certain extent by aligning with the poor masses in their struggles for better living. He risked his life and wealth to fight against privatization, commercialization (including law education commercialization), deregulation, fuel price hikes, and low wages (even for the judges). One must ask how many human right entrepreneurs would be ready to sacrifice subventions and grants (from foreign donors and governments) to these kinds of struggles not to mention the building of a political movement against capitalism.

However, it is worth stating that Gani's relevance is not only in his commitment, doggedness and sacrifice. We are witnesses to several self-acclaimed anti-military rule, pro-June 12 fighters, who are as anti-poor as the military rulers they falsely claimed to have resisted. The way Gani stood out was neither through his expansive and unique philanthropy. Instead, what placed Gani above his contemporaries, juniors and seniors, is his working class approach which he peaked with his involvement in the direct anti-capitalist political struggle for change, despite all attempts to hide this aspect of Gani's contribution. It is this working class character he brought to all these endeavours coupled with his political activism that will live evermore.

As a lawyer, Gani was a contradiction. Law, as Karl Marx defined it is an instrument for the sanctification of robbery of the poor by the rich in a capitalist society. Therefore, no matter the seeming progressive character of law, it is limited in challenging the status quo. Gani, especially through public interest cases, was unable to use law to change the capitalist status quo, but was able to use law and the legal system to expose the contradictions within our backward neocolonial capitalist state: The contradiction between the profit-oriented system and its so-called avowed social, constitutional and jurisprudential transparency. Until he breathed his last, he was clearly demonstrating the failure of the ruling class, which while claiming to be committed to rule of law continue to rape the fundamental aspect of the Nigerian constitution: Chapter two, which guarantees free and quality education at all levels, free medical services, national minimum living wage, old age and disabled social security, living pension (not extortive contributory pension), and nationalization of the commanding height of the economy.

Gani’s exploration of the contradictory facade of the law in an unequal society, pitched him against the legal establishment and many of his colleagues, who see the law as a means of sustaining the system. This explains his battle with the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), not only over the Buhari quasi-judicial military tribunal but also during the Olisa Agbakoba-led NBA era when he combated the NBA’s uncritical romance with the Bench. On the former issue, it is imperative to comment on the one-sided critique of Gani by many pundits. For instance, Olakunle Abimbola writing in The Nation newspaper, had suggested that Gani’s acceptance to appear before Buhari’s tribunal, when NBA called for a boycott, gave the regime a lease of life, and further justified future military regimes. This argument is bizarre, as it deliberately ignored Gani’s arguments and previous history of the NBA. It should be noted that while Gani appeared before the tribunal, he played an active role in combating the Buhari regime’s autocratic laws against students, workers and journalists. He defended and supported students and workers during the struggles against the regime’s anti-poor policies. This is a far cry from the character and position of the NBA. Gani has maintained correctly, that the NBA leadership was hypocritical on its boycott position. The same NBA was mute when students and workers were attacked by previous regimes; the same NBA did not organise any boycott against the first election rigging, the first coup or the civil war. In addition to this, many NBA members did not protest against subsequent military regimes’ military tribunals, repressive actions and economic policies.

NBA’s boycott call may be right but neither consistent nor principled. Criticizing NBA is not a justification for Gani’s decision. For a working class activist, opposition to the military and repressive regimes must be sacrosanct, but participation in the activities organised under the military regime is tactical. For instance, it would have been wrong not to appear before Sani Abacha’s military tribunal on Ken Saro Wiwa’s trial, because abstention initially would have easily justified Abacha’s thirst for blood. But the two are not mutually exclusive; a working class fighter must know that any participation in activities under a military regime must be linked with the struggle to topple such a regime. Gani stood against military rule and participated actively in struggle to end it. It would have however been more meaningful if Gani had mobilised the students, workers, etc to demand for an open tribunal for not just toppled civilian politicians, who were being tried by the Buhari’s military tribunal, but also military officials, especially those in political positions since 1966. This would have de-mystified the Buhari regime itself, and further undermined its basis of existence. (While mistake in Gani’s position is one of tactics, that of NBA establishment is fundamentally of principle and character.) NBA’s rejection was not based on its long-term opposition to the military regime, as it also did not mobilise people against past repressive regimes. Is today’s NBA better off?

Gani’s philanthropic exploit was also exceptional. While a philanthropist believes that through charity, wealth can be given to the poor while the system of inequality continues to produce a vicious cycle of poverty; Gani’s practice of philanthropy was oriented towards empowering the poor so that they could fight the system that made them poor. Gani’s philanthropy was meant to undermine the basis for philanthropy itself. This explains why Gani’s material contributions to people’s lives were more pronounced in pro bono legal services, especially for activists in the workers’ and student movement; education sponsorships and donations of books and materials to press houses, student organisations, civil society groups and professional groups. He even published books on national issues such as fuel deregulation. In many ways his pioneering law report was also a philanthropic gesture. He was not just a philanthropist but a radical humanist philanthropist.

Aside from the earlier point that Gani started his activism far before ‘human rightism’ became an enterprise; Gani's definition of activism was different. Not only was he not reported to have secured financial aid from foreign donors (many of which are attached to intelligence agencies, multinational agencies and corporations etc., all of whom are contributing to the suffering of the working people in both advanced and backward countries) but, Gani's human right activism was directed at the contradiction between capitalist rule (both military and civilian) and people’s interests. He stood out due to his expansive definition of human rights activism that included opposition to neo-liberal capitalist policies of privatization, commercialization, and deregulation, issues which most human right elements can hardly openly oppose as a result of their commitment to their local and foreign donors, who benefit from these policies.

Gani's approach to the defence of people’s rights during both the military and civilian regimes was political. He not only stood in the courts to defend students, workers and their organisations, he would go to the streets along with them to defend their democratic rights and celebrate their victory on the streets. Even during the military regime when the central demands were the ousting of the military and validation of June 12 mandate, Gani along with socialist and young activists in the National Conscience Party (NCP) combated the anti-poor, pro-imperialist and capitalist economic policies. This is significant, as many of the pro-June 12 elements were not economically opposed to military rule, as events since the arrival of civilian rule in 1999 have exposed.

Gani’s political method clearly stood out, avoiding the treachery of bourgeois opposition during and after the military rule. Socialists had maintained that the bourgeois anti-military oppositionists were not reliable, and that there was a need to build a genuine working class political platform that would transcend the demand for ousting of the military and validation of the June 12 mandate. Additionally it would raise socio-economic demands vis-à-vis public ownership of the mainstay of the economy (oil and gas, minerals, power and energy, steel, etc) under the democratic control of the working and poor people through their elected representatives. To concretize this, socialists raised the need to build such a platform from the grassroots, with the formation of local struggles and defence committees around workplaces that would then be linked up to the national level as a way of mobilising a comprehensive struggle against capitalism and imperialism, that led to the military rule in the first place. With such an arrangement, it would not have been possible for the bourgeois opposition to hijack the struggle and make a rotten agreement with the military ruling class under the guise of engendering transition in 1998. Gani formed the NCP during the time in 1994 when the Abacha government outlawed alternative political platforms; when many so-called pro-democracy elements and groups withdrew back to their shells, ran away from the country, grumbled in their bedrooms or sold their birthright to the regime.

It will not be adequate not to explore Gani’s political activism in the civilian experiment. It has been severally alleged that Gani’s ‘one-man-ism’ led to his failure politically. This view was expressed, among others, by Mr. Sam Omatseye (editorial board chairman of The Nation newspaper) in his evaluation of Gani’s life. Aside from other ludicrous allegations that Gani believed in dictatorship, Omatseye had posited that Gani’s lack of collective action led to the failure of his political career. This is ridiculous. In the first instance, flowing from the previous analysis, it was not Gani that failed politically but those shameless politicians of today, including the so-called opposition, who struck a rotten alliance with the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime in order for them to attain political relevance. It is those journalists and politicians who kept quiet when the right of the poor people to form a political party in a civilian regime was curtailed by the Olusegun Obasanjo regime in alliance with the so-called opposition. It is those who allied with the Obasanjo regime in 2003 for their own political survival that failed; those that claims to be the opposition but continue to retrench tens of thousands of workers, victimize labour and student leaders, privatize public utilities and commercialize social services. Indeed, Gani had succeeded politically as opposed to the cowards that refused to even murmur their grudges.

Gani’s sustenance of the NCP showed his contempt for the Nigeria’s bourgeois opposition parties, which were (and are still) implementing anti-poor policies especially in the southwest, where over 50,000 workers were retrenched by the Alliance for Democracy (AD) state governments between 1999 and 2003. It was the refusal of Gani to ally with political opportunists that earned him the opprobrium of the self-acclaimed ‘progressive’ politicians. But to millions of poor and working class people, Gani’s political integrity and formation of a pro-poor political party is legendary. The Gani-led NCP was a huge success going by the then prevailing conditions. Although the NCP of today has lost all its genuine working class, radical political outlook as a result of the hijack of the party leadership by the rightwing elements within the party, the party’s role during Gani’s leadership was significant for the working and poor people, especially the activists looking for change from this rotten, capitalist system. It is on that despite the fact that NCP was denied early registration by INEC (the electoral body), the ruling central government of Obasanjo, in alliance with the opposition party and a section of the judiciary, but miraculously the party sprang up despite not winning virtually anywhere. The party was officially allowed to exist in late 2002 and the struggle to democratise the electoral space and right of contest was won early 2003, while elections were to hold in April same year. Against these odds and despite widespread rigging and massive monetary inducement of the electoral process by the major capitalist parties, NCP made significant gains.

In Lagos State, despite financial constraints, where about N8 million (generally mobilised from members only) that were expended on the governorship and senatorial elections, the party received over 150,000 votes and over 77,000 votes for governorship and (Lagos West) senatorial candidates respectively. The senatorial candidate for Lagos West, Lanre Arogundade – a socialist, former student leader and unionist – ran an anti-capitalist, socialist campaign. He committed himself to collecting a worker’s wage and donating of the rest of his salary to communities and the working class and youth movement. He would have won if the ruling party in the state did not rig the election. His votes (like others) were big blow to the nefarious propaganda that you need to join corrupt capitalist political arrangement before you can gain mass support. Furthermore, Gani, despite the aforementioned obstacles, came fifth in the presidential election. Compare this to the political collaboration of the capitalist parties. In Lagos State, according to a newspaper and a foreign electoral monitoring group’s report, the ruling party, seeing the enormous progress parties like the NCP were making, mobilised over N400 million overnight from the 20 local governments they controlled, not to print posters but to induce voters. Is this a sign of political success? It should also be recalled that against all sectional and ethnic politics being played, Gani stood for the alliance of the poor people nationally. (For instance, the opposition party in the south-west, AD supported PDP’s Obasanjo because he is from the south-west’s Yoruba tribe, not because of programmes.)Indeed, when Gani came to Osun State, precisely Ile-Ife in 2003 during his campaign he got his loudest ovation from the Hausa community.

It is on note that while other parties, claiming to be democratic imposed the views of the leaders on the membership, and in fact attacked the opposition when they are power, Gani-led NCP allowed open critique of the party policies and programmes, which allowed socialists and other left forces to recruit members. For instance, socialists in NCP had maintained that while NCP was not yet a mass working class party, its ‘10-Care’ programme must be linked with the ultimate struggle to change the capitalist socio-economic outlook of the country, as the programme, as beautiful as it was, could not be fully implemented without a revolutionary programme of public ownership of the economy. Politically, socialists argued that the party had to be a fighting party of the masses, leading protests against attacks on economic and democratic rights of workers, students, youth, and the unemployed, as it was doing during the military regime. With this, the party would become the official party of the working people. This critique helped NCP to develop and recruit the best of progressive minds.

On the other hand, the ruling parties were busy attacking workers and the poor. Gani was himself a victim. For instance, when he questioned Bola Tinubu’s (then Lagos State governor) academic credential in court, he was not only vilified, but thugs were mobilised by Tinubu’s supporters to attack him in one of the court sessions. In fact, some of those claiming to come from his human right constituency openly chastised him for questioning Tinubu’s credential. For instance, one of those now posing to be his heir apparent was not only a lawyer to Tinubu, but openly called Gani senile. Ironically, this same person, who sought for gubernatorial ticket under Alliance for Democracy (AD), Tinubu’s party, is not only a central leader of NCP today, but one of the chief organisers of Gani’s burial! Also, in Osun State in 2002, Gani, along with several thousands others were tear-gassed by the police mobilised by the Bisi Akande government to quell a mass rally organised to resist retrenchment and high-handedness. Bisi Akande is now the national leader of one of the major bourgeois opposition parties, Action Congress (AC), an off-shoot of AD.

Gani Fawehinmi as a human being made mistakes – ‘show me who never makes a mistake and I will show you a fool’ – but such were products of circumstances and lack of rounded out socialist understanding of the capitalist system. For instance, his acceptance of Buhari as a presidential candidate in 2007 was flawed, but that in it self was due to the absence of a viable political alternative. While not justifying Gani’s mistake, in reality, if there had been a genuine party of the working people, even with the credibility of the pre-2003 NCP running with a person like Adams Oshiomhole, a labour leader contesting under such party as a presidential candidate, Gani might not have made such decision. Also, Gani’s relinquishment of party leadership to the rightwing elements, who were either in bourgeois parties or played no major role in the party’s struggles, led to the collapse of the party politically and ideologically, with the party receiving only 580 votes in the 2007 governorship election as opposed to over 150,000 it received in 2003.

Fortunately, Gani was able to recognise that the NCP he built had veered off track politically and ideologically. In late 2007, he granted an interview with Vanguard newspaper where he openly admitted that the party had been bastardized by the rightwing leadership with himself not knowing what the party stood for. In the same year, in a symposium organised by the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and United Action for Democracy (UAD), he openly reiterated the same point, going further to support the need for a socialist (working class) party, canvassed by Dr Dipo Fashina, the immediate past president of ASUU, the university lecturers’ union. His promise to join and support such a party did not materialise as the party was yet to be formed before his demise. Gani sought to build a sane, modern capitalist society that would serve the poor, but his endeavours met with the backwardness of the neocolonial capitalist ruling class and the prevailing imperialist global capitalist system, which gradually drew him in the anti-capitalist direction.

The best honour genuine working class and pro-democracy activists and youth can give to the memory of Gani is to hasten his struggle for the toppling of the anti-poor, neo-liberal capitalist arrangement through a socialist revolution by building a genuine mass working people’s political party. There is need for a summit of genuine left-wing and pro-labour forces to build this political movement. While Gani called for labour (working masses) taking over the reign of governance, the Labour Party that should serve as a pole of attraction to millions of workers and youth has been denied mass participation by the right wing leadership of the party, who want to use it as a bargaining tool in 2011. It is not enough to ask the masses to fight for their rights; we must provide the political platform for them to do so. While Gani’s fought all his life to ensure the sustenance of platforms of resistance, the students’ national platform has been destroyed; radical workers’ movement has been crippled by the pro-bourgeois leadership, while working people have been denied an independent political voice. However, as the ruling class in Nigeria continue to attack workers, students, the poor and the youth; destroy education and deregulate the economy, the need to build on Gani’s heroic and revolutionary zeal by the working and poor people will gain echo, which will fire the movement for the overthrow of capitalism and enthronement of a just socialist society. (What we need is not another Gani but a genuine working class that will champion the struggle for an egalitarian society Gani sought for while alive.) This will be the real celebration of Gani Fawehinmi, the revolutionary tribune.

11. Nigeria’s Political logjam: Revolutionary Alternative to the Policy of Lesser Evil

(Written in March, 2010)

For the past three months now, the Nigeria’s political stability has been put on the cliff edge as a result of the succession crisis occasioned by the illegal absence of the Nigeria’s president, Umaru Yar’Adua due to ill health. But, political events since the emergence of the Yar’Adua government through the highly flawed and violently rigged elections in 2007 has further confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that the Nigerian capitalist ruling class, flowing from its neo-colonial background, cannot move the country forward an inch, no matter the pretence to any form of civility. The events that have played out since then, up to the present appalling political situation, has shown that unless a genuine revolutionary, working and poor people political opposition is provided to the rottenness called leadership in Nigeria to change the socio-economic and political fabrics of the country, no amount of piecemeal approach can resolve the misery called governance in Nigeria. Though, nothing is wrong with protest against ruling class dangerous game, Nigeria’s pro-bourgeois commentators, their civil society allies (under the banner of Save Nigeria Group and other platforms) and the labour leadership sowing of illusion that there is shortcut to the problems facing Nigeria by appealing to and mobilizing behind a section of the ruling class is both treacherous and dangerous for the working people in the coming period.

The political economy of the power tussle

Behind the entire antics of succession politics is massive looting officially and extra-officially. Aside trillions of naira handed over to oil marketers and another over a trillion naira to politicians annually as official salaries is the continuation of anti-poor, pro-rich economic policies of privatization (of Sheraton Hotels, oil blocks, planned PHCN and refineries’ sale, and now NITEL dubious sale, public private partnership, etc. all at fraction of their original worth), commercialization (education and health care), retrenchment, etc. Added to all this is the siphoning of state resources through over-bloated and duplicated contracts (over N500 billion (over US$3 billion) extra-budget for power generation with nothing to show for it), sharing of excess crude oil fund (over $2 billion already shared by the three tiers of government under Jonathan’s acting presidency), etc. In summary, despite the huge resources that had accrued to the state purse since 2007, the rich few are getting richer at the expense of impoverished country men. If there is anything new in Yar’Adua government, it is a re-arrangement of the looting class.

With this kind of arrangement, it is easy to imagine the deadly struggle that will ensue between different sections of the ruling but looting class at every attempt at changing the controlling hand over the spoil. Now, with almost N4.5 trillion federal budget for 2010, the Yar’Adua-Goodluck power tussle can only get messier. That this intra-class war has taken the current dangerous dimension that may possibly end in military intervention and worse still a civil war, is a reflection of the absence of a genuine mass organization of the working and poor people that can provide a mass opposition to the rottenness called governance in Nigeria. The bourgeois opposition parties are mere junior partners of the ruling party in terms of economic policies and politics. In fact, they are satisfied with their local dominance which provide them with some form of economic survival, and at best seek for a regional domination which they can use at the best of time to negotiate with any national government/party/politician.

While the sidelined section of the capitalist ruling class have mobilised behind Goodluck Jonathan relying on the moral problem of the Yar’Adua camp, the camp lining behind Yar’Adua’s politics comprising state governors, national assembly members, a major section of the federal executive, big business that have gained from huge government projects, and other politicians who have tailored their political and economic survival to the 2011 calculations, are using their connection with the military to checkmate and hold back the new power section from emerging fully. The Jonathan group wants to break away from the prison imposed by the Yar’Adua groups, assert itself and build its own empire; but itself being a part of the so-called kitchen cabinet cannot fully annihilate the Yar’Adua group because this will upset the whole political cum economic arrangements of the capitalist ruling class (which they jointly built) and may lead to their collective ruin.

Behind the scene is the reliance on the military and mobilization of base sentiments of ethnic and regional forces by each power camp. While the Yar’adua camp is mobilizing the military bureaucrats (who fear for their careers in a new arrangement) to insure the thin thread tying Yar’adua to power, the Jonathan emerging bloc is relying on intelligence forces and old military forces to sustain itself as seen in the removal of Yar’Adua’s National Security Adviser. All this again knocks a big hole in the so-called commitment of Nigeria’s ruling class to democracy. Both camps are prepared to use military forces and ethnicity to prevent losing grip of power. This reliance on military is a recipe for military intervention when intra-class conflict gets critical as seen in the Niger Republic recently.

The lame duck Legislature

While the National Assembly’s criminally belated intervention in legitimizing Jonathan is more of a game of self-preservation than national interest, the failure to bring to book all those who made nonsense of its resolutions reflects not only the lame duck character of this section of the bourgeois state but also their fear of losing economically and politically from the power game. Having seen the power play, they do not want a military coup which may at best put them out of power; neither do they want a situation that will place responsibilities of rescuing the capitalist state on them. This explains their acquiescence when the worst actions were carried out (exemplified by secrecy on Yar’Adua’s whereabouts and the semi-coup carried out to bring Yar’Adua back to power) to undermine the existence of the so-called legislature, majority of whose members were rigged into office. Despite the fact that all officials and structures of the state have been ridiculed both within and outside the country, no action has been taken to at least put an end to the shenanigan by ending Yar’Adua’s rule, even when they have a pseudo-ally in the so-called civil society. This is not accidental; the national assembly is aware that basing themselves on a very limited power of the civil society groups can open the floodgate to massive movement of the poor that may consume them in the coming period. But the National Assembly, rather than saving itself with this posture, has showed the seed for its own destruction.

The Hypocrisy of imperialist powers

More than ever before, the direct intervention of US and European capitalist governments in the current succession crisis reflects the very weak, neo-colonial and pro-imperialist character of Nigeria’s ruling class. Moreover, the political development in Nigeria has also shown the perfidy of foreign imperialist interests despite their pretensions about democracy. The US Undersecretary (Africa Affair), Mr. Carson despite all his sermons about democracy and constitutionalism did not see Aso Rock or the national assembly as first point of call for his visit but rather Minna mansion of General Babangida (a symbol of Nigeria’s anti-democratic and anti-poor forces), possibly to negotiate power arrangement and prevent any situation that may affect its economic interests. Already, China is having greater influence in Africa and indeed in Nigeria’s oil industry with Chinese oil cartel offering huge petrodollar for juicy oil fields formerly exclusively reserved for western multinational oil companies. This has also given the Nigerian corrupt ruling class a leverage to seek for increased share of the oil largesse and sell the whole oil industry to the highest bidder as enshrined in Petroleum Industry Bill. Thus, the present political crisis (as well as the terrorist blacklisting issue) provides opportunity for western imperialist powers to re-negotiate their economic interests in Nigeria.

Of course, domino effect of instability in Nigeria on other African countries is a live question for US and European capitalist governments; but this itself is based on the survival of their imperialist interests in Africa, than genuine stability of Africa. At least, western capitalist governments did not consider that just ten percent of the over $2 trillion dollars spent to bailout handful financial sharks can lift hundreds of millions of poor Africans out of poverty and misery. Thus, the US and European capitalist governments’ concern for democracy in Nigeria is underlined by economic interests of their big capitalist sharks. This explains the ambiguity in their statements: trying to boost support for Jonathan and at the same time giving a room for Yar’Adua’s comeback. We should not be surprised if they switch their support tomorrow. The latest example of Honduras where US and European governments supported military government that ousted a democratically elected president, gives a glimpse of the real interests of imperialism.

Goodluck Jonathan and inconsistency of the Civil Society

It is thus naïve if not out-rightly treacherous for our civil society and the media practitioners to portray Jonathan as a better alternative to Yar’Adua. In the real sense, Jonathan was part and parcel of the Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet and participated in all policies and programmes of the Yar’Adua government, which have made lives more miserable for the working people and place the nation’s wealth in the pockets of the rich few. Jonathan was part of the process leading to rejection of Justice Uwais-led electoral reform committee’s recommendations. He participated in the cover up on Yar’Adua’s health status. He chairs the National Council on Privatization that has handed over public wealth to the local and foreign capitalist at token while workers are retrenched en mass. Ironically, the same media and opposition that told us in 2007 that Jonathan was put in Yar’Adua’s cabinet as Obasanjo’s lapdog; are now vigorously seeking presidency of Jonathan. What happen if some disgruntled elements are sponsored to campaign for Yar’Adua’s return as some pro-Yar’Adua’s groups are planning?

The whole shenanigan about the power tussle has provided each camp with opportunity to loot the nation blind. And since his appointment as acting president, it has been more of privatization (of NITEL under dubious arrangement), hand out of billions to moneybags under the guise of Niger delta development, re-introduction of the official adoption of deregulation, invitation of the old economic plunderers and military supremacists like T Y Danjuma (who claimed recently to have gained over $500 million from investment in oil block given him by the dreaded Sani Abacha), etc. This is the alternative the civil society, the media, opposition parties and labour movement leadership is giving to working but poor Nigerians? Is there no alternative to this policy of lesser evil?

Flowing from the analyses above it is glaring that the various sections of the ruling class cannot resolve their own intra-class political crisis, talk much less of laying the basis of genuine democracy in Nigeria. If the ruling class can be so crude in struggling for power within their own arrangement, one can only guess what will happen when they are to lose power. Thus, it is illusory for the civil society and the labour movement to think that Jonathan can ensure free and fair elections or ‘reform’ the electoral system. No genuine election can exist under a weak, neo-colonial, capitalist economic system where politics is the main source of privilege and wealth. While the positions of the so-called civil society groups and their leaders, whose businesses are tied to the capitalist economy, are understandable, the position of the labour leadership, the workers’ representatives, on this issue is to say the least frightening.

Treachery of the Labour Leadership

The NLC and TUC leaderships’ solidarity visits to Jonathan and their subsequent comments, sowing illusion in the government is both unprincipled and treacherous. Even when it was glaring that those behind Jonathan are the same old dark forces that the labour movement has opposed and fought against, the labour leadership still pretend as if Jonathan’s emergence is a ‘revolution’. The same labour leadership which claim to oppose deregulation has not organised a Day of Action to compel government to reverse artificial scarcity and fuel prices hike at filling stations, but finds it convenient to join Jonathan’s deregulation committee meant to ‘iron out differences’ on deregulation as if labour’s opposition is mere superficial. The NLC’s NEC position that it will accept deregulation if government build refineries and infrastructures is ridiculous as this tend to suggest that it was a “slip of thought” that the government has not done these since 2007. While there is nothing wrong in demanding ouster of the dubious chief electoral officer, Maurice Iwu, this can never get us anywhere unless the labour movement builds a revolutionary party to oust all capitalist politicians and the system they operate.

However, the NLC’s statement after its last NEC meeting stated its reason behind its lukewarm attitude toward the country’s political crises. It maintained that some ‘anti-democratic forces’ want to use labour mass action to hijack power (maybe through the military). Does the NLC means that its actions are recipe for anti-democratic take over of power? Is this not a viable excuse for any repressive government that may emerge from this current muddy struggle for power to suspend labour movement and civil society activities? More important, how can a mass action of workers and other oppressed people, maintaining opposition to military rule and demanding sovereign national conference, lead to hijack of power by ‘anti-democratic forces’? The NLC’s position only reflects its previously failed policy of political neutrality and collaboration with anti-poor governments; a version of policy of lesser evil-ism.

A genuine working class programme

Whichever direction the current ruinous political arrangement moves, it will be a fiasco for the working people both in the near and long term. Even if military rule is avoided, and any camp have a upper hand or the two cabals reach consensus on power sharing this will only isolate the working and poor people, which may, aside continuing the neo-liberal policies, lead to development of a strong and repressive state meant to annihilate the masses from demanding political change as there will a serious and rabid quest to hold on to power and loot as 2011 approaches. In fact, with the current arrangement, the possibility of elections holding in 2011 is in doubt while emergence of a highly repressive state may result, if elections hold at all. This is especially possible as the ruling class has reached the dead-end of its dubious ingenuity of continual rule, which may pave way for a rabidly anti-poor, repressive ruler. Only the dislodgement of the current rotten neo-colonial capitalist socio-economic and political system and enthronement a socialist Nigeria by the working masses is the way out.

Rather than demand for Jonathan’s enthronement (and thus continuation of the anti-poor economic policies), one expects the labour movement to demand at the minimum for a truly democratic sovereign national conference, that will determine the economic, political, social and cultural bases of Nigeria’s existence. Such conference will be determined through direct election of representatives of workers’ unions, pensioners’ associations, unemployed groups, professional organizations, students’ and youth movements, peasants’ and artisans’ organizations and ethnic nationalities. Aside this demand for a sovereign national conference, there will be other demands such as N52, 000 minimum wage for workers without retrenchment, reversal of deregulation policy, social security for the aged and the infirm, free and quality education and Medicare at all levels, decent and secure jobs for all able bodied citizens through massive public work programmes such as cheap, mass public housing; integrated transport system (road, rail, water, etc.); poor peasant-based, mechanized agricultural, agro-allied and food security system; environmentally sustainable energy and power system; among others. It will however be illusory to think that the capitalist political class can willingly subscribe to any of these demands without a mass movement threatening the capitalist system.

A permanent revolutionary alternative to political rottenness

Therefore, it would be necessary for labour movement to mobilise other oppressed layer and the genuinely pro-labour, anti-capitalist civil society groups, radical and socialist organizations, with a view to organizing not only series of mass actions against the capitalist ruling class economic policies, but also build towards the sovereign national conference by forming a political platform to organize national summit of working and oppressed people through the process outlined for the sovereign national conference. Such national summit can first be preceded by national mobilization and enlightenment campaign through press campaigns, publication of educative materials, and organization of revolutionary education classes and cells, symposia and rallies at local and state levels. Furthermore, struggle and implementation committees should be set up at local, state, regional and national levels which will organise mass summits at these levels. With this, a basis will be set for a revolutionary movement that will be strong enough to dethrone the current ruinous capitalist ruling class and enthrone a democratic socialist government that will put public resources under working and poor people’s democratic public control and management, to develop the society on a truly egalitarian and sustainable basis.

As the nation is being drifted towards the brink of serious political crisis, the need for the working class and youth activists and leaders, their organizations, the pro-labour civil societies, especially those under LASCO, to build a collective revolutionary political platform for this purpose is more important today than ever, either through the existing Labour Party (which was set up by the NLC but now under the stranglehold of moneybag politicians) or through a new political formation, especially as 2011 is approaching. We need to link our today with the ultimate aim of building a democratic socialist Nigeria, as a basis for a socialist Africa and world.

12. The Blood Flood in Jos and the role of the Working class

Written March, 2010

Again, hundreds of innocent lives, mostly of women and children have been wasted away in Jos villages by ethnic bigots, who are banking on the failure of Nigerian government to secure citizens’ lives and properties. The over-a-decade of civil rule has meant loss of over twenty thousand lives more to one form of communal, ethnic, religious and political strife or the other. All this has again raised a big question about the viability of Nigeria as a country. In fact, the continuous debate about nationality question, a decade after civil rule shows that there are more to the survival of nation than the ritual of elections.

Many commentators have identified the failure of government to bring those behind the massacre to book as a catalyst for continued hostility in Jos. But nobody has recognized that the failure of Nigerian government to bring the culprits to book reflects the culpability of government. How else will one show the backwardness of the Nigerian state than the fact that despite the massive militarization of Jos, none of the communal crises has been stopped from happening? It should be noted that the military command in Jos is not meant for Jos alone but the whole region. That such military force could not contain the crisis in just a part of its territory reflects not just professional problem, but a deeper the systemic social failure.

The Jos military commander claimed that he was misled, but it was glaring he and his castes are half sincere if at all they are serious. Is the commander saying no one within the whole security set up, including the police, the SSS and the military, know the terrain of Jos such that the whole security set up will be misled for over five hours of the massacre? Were the squads sent to curtail the massacre only roving and when it seems there is no problem leaves the place within few minutes, or was there only one squad moving round the communities? Are the police and the SSS also deceived? When the commander got reports (through text messages), did he discuss with other section of the security arrangement – the police, the SSS and the state government (including the governor), and what were their response? That the commander reduced everything to being deceived shows his high level of contempt for truth.

But in the real sense, what the military commander depicted is not just an individual nature, but a reflection of neo-colonial character of public officers. While senior military officers are prepared to defend the power and prestige of the ruling political class, they care less about public safety. That explains while the military will be prepared to undertake foreign military operation in the interest of capitalist ruling class and imperialist forces under the guise of peace-keeping, but can hardly defend public safety. The same police which cannot stop crimes will smoothly repress peaceful protests against government’s anti-poor policies. According to the police command, more than a quarter of the police force is used to protect moneybags and the ruling class. Thus the military and police have continued the colonial policy of building coercive forces amongst the people with public fund to protect anti-poor governments and imperialist economic forces.

The security forces, aside being tailored towards the defence of the ruling class, are also undemocratically organised. This explains why it is easy for the military commander to just tell the public that he relied on text messages, and sent his men there. This shows total disconnect between the military commanders (and other security heads) and their rank and file (who actually carry out the field work) on one hand; and the military forces and the people on the other hand. The security forces are so organised in such a way that a commander can take absurd decision in a pepper soup joint or can act on ethnic or racial instinct without recourse to any democratic decision making organ. He only needs to settle himself with his superior. With such an arrangement, curtailment of communal conflict or even criminal acts will become a miracle. Thus, it is necessary to ask the people of Plateau (including the Fulanis, Beroms, and other tribes) to organise collective community security groups to stop this bloodletting and not rely on any security force.

Some observers are of the view that democratization of the security forces will engender indiscipline and sabotage. But all coups organised in this country have never being done through democratic input of rank and file soldiers, but through coercion. Also, many of terrible actions of the police including checkpoint bribe taking are not product of democratization of security forces, but lack of it. If the security forces are democratized and made accountable to the masses, it will be hard for anybody to organise coup. Rules guiding the activities of the security forces will be determined by the people, and the rank and file. Aside the fact that such rules will reflect prevailing social conditions, it will be easy to implement. Public military training for adults and community control of the security forces and security arrangement will surely checkmate illegitimate hold on power and thus control the use of public resources. But, it will be illusory to expect the current capitalist, neo-colonial politicians, who are gaining from current arrangement, to undertake this reform. It will take a pro-poor government that emerges from people’s movement to do this. The failure of the security forces to stop or curtail the Jos killings and indeed the various killings in the country is a reflection of the neo-colonial, elite-oriented, undemocratic character of the security forces, which itself reflects the failure of the pro-imperialist, capitalist class to move the country forward.

The state governor, Jonah Jang has tried to exonerate his government by putting the blame on the military commander. But the governor is criminally culpable. In the first instance, he claimed to have called the commander, after he was informed of the crisis, only to be “woken up three hours later that people are being hacked down”. But would Mr. Governor have slept if it was the state house that is on fire. Despite the fact that the people being attacked are living close to the government house, the governor could not even send his security to undertake independent security check. Someone jocularly commented that governor’s irresponsible sleep might not be unconnected with his name.

But aside the governor acting truly to type of a typical political class in Africa (who care less about people they claim to be representing inasmuch as their economic and political interests are secured) the massacres in Jos reflects the gross economic perfidy of the capitalist political class. May one ask that since the latest crisis in 2008, how many schools, hospitals, public roads, mass housing scheme have been built not only in affected areas but in the whole of Plateau State. While it has been established that struggle for agricultural resources, especially land is a major cause of the crisis, the state government has not deemed it fit to established a pastoral village for herdsmen, or organise state farms (that will employ tens of thousands of youths and farmers) and agricultural villages, where farmers will be organised and provided will adequate facilities. If these were done ethno-religious crises, if not completely stopped would have been mitigated. In 2008, the state government closed down a state university under the guise of lack of resources to run a university. But the same government dole out hundreds of millions of naira to politicians and contractors. Communities affected by these crises still lack basic facilities such as roads, hospitals and schools.

Jos crisis is not a sign of ethnic backwardness as suggested by some commentators but a reflection of economic depravity. Since the introduction of neo-liberal economic policies under SAP in the late 1980’s, many communities have been dislocated economically and socially. Jos, just like every other northern city, used to have viable industries. Also, the presence of railway in many northern states created jobs for tens of thousands of youth and adults. But with introduction of neo-liberalism, coupled with unprecedented corruption, many public infrastructures and services have been destroyed no thanks to under funding and mismanagement with over 800 industries gone under. Thus, a city like Jos, which has become cosmopolitan as a result of not only geographical and climatic nature but also the presence of national facilities, is now reduced to a centre of joblessness, frustration and social tension. The civilian regimes since 1999 have only accentuated these. Since 2007, the country has gotten nothing less than $100 billion from crude oil alone, but this has not translated to increased living standard for the poor with unemployment estimated at over 60 percent among the youth, while more people find it impossible to afford higher education. In this kind of arrangement, expression of frustration through ethnic jingoism is not unexpected.

Worse still, those affected by the crises are not rehabilitated and given better lives. In a sane state, victims of communal crises will be given such treatment which will make them forget past experiences. But with Nigeria’s treatment of the victims of these crises, recycling of social tension is assured. This is already clear from the nature of the Jos crisis. While the crisis started as a struggle for resources, it has developed into revenge, because those who have seen their lives in ruins do not care to destroy anything they see.

The response of the Acting President has again confirmed the contemptuous character of the Nigerian ruling class. Rather than undertake overhaul of the security arrangement in the state, the acting president used the massacre to boost his political power, by using the crisis as excuse to remove his adversary in the political arrangement. While the National Security Adviser was removed ‘because of the Jos massacre’, the call for the removal of the army commander under whose control hundreds of lives were lost has been ignored by the government. After the killing in Dogo Nahawa, another killing spree has been carried out in Rigim, under the watchful eyes of the security forces. Will Mr. Jonathan remove the new NSA too on this basis? But Jonathan’s presidency is hanging in the balance; therefore, it will be dangerous to attack the military hierarchy. This explains the boldness of the army authority in defending the Jos army commander.

The Jos crisis is also a manifestation of the colonial but undemocratic partitioning of Nigeria, to ensure smooth imperialist plundering of the colonial economies. In Nigeria, post-independence regimes have not altered this relation. The local post-independence pro-bourgeois leaders did not bother to address this conglomeration through a democratically convened sovereign national conference that will address socio-economic, cultural and ethnic bases of Nigeria’s existence or otherwise. On the other hand, these leaderships only divided the country on regional line without the democratic input of the people. While, as a result of the global popularity of the post-World War 2 welfare states, some of the regional leaders like Obafemi Awolowo improved social infrastructures, but this was done without giving power to the people through community and trade union control of resources and development. While all the regional ruling classes were proclaiming federalism, ethnic minorities and communities were not allowed to express their democratic and political rights of decision-making. The failure to have a collectively planned national development led to serious struggle for control by various paternalistic regional ruling classes leading to emergence of military rule and subsequent civil war.

The breaking of the country into various states and coercing people into a country without their political input not only localize the nationality problem but multiply it. Each state is a conglomeration of various interests with ruling class at national and local level, using various methods of divide-and-rule to control power and resources. For instance, it is not uncommon see various state politicians creating policies along the line of ethnicity and indigene-ship e.g. employment, taxation, school fees, etc. Also, federal government has made ethnicity a major policy through identifying people’s place of origin (not of residence) and the dubious federal character policy. These are done to veil government’s failure to provide basic necessities for the people. All this coupled with neo-colonial capitalist economic arrangement that isolate the working and poor people from ownership of the economy has continued to make the country a hotbed of ethnic crises.

Thus unless the country is restructured in a democratic manner which will change the socio-economic and political arrangements which has made ethnicity a vital instrument of political and economic control, the various ethno-religious crises and centrifugal forces in the country will not abate. But the current political class cannot carry out this task as this will undermine the rotten profit system where they feast. How will you tell one percent of the population who control over 80 percent of the oil wealth to allow the over 100 million poor people to determine how public resources will be used to provide education, health, and social infrastructure. It is like asking them to commit suicide.

Thus, the labour movement, being the central organised platform of the working and poor masses, must start to build a national political platform that will raise the demands of the working and poor people for economic and political control. Such platform will be built to wrest power from the current set of capitalist political marauders, by building the movement as a democratic platform from the grassroots. Aside demanding sovereign national conference comprising democratically elected representatives of the workers, peasants, petty traders, artisans, unemployed, youth, students, professionals, ethnic nationalities and communities, such platform will build its programme around free and quality education and health, secure and decent job provision for able bodied youth (with adequate living and working conditions), through massive public work programmes: massive and integrated transport facilities (road, rail, water and air), cheap, mass housing, massive but safe and environmentally friendly power and energy development, mechanized, poor peasant-based, industrial-integrated but environmentally sustainable agricultural and food security system, among others. These demands and others at local and grassroots level will make such political platform, the natural abode of the working and poor people and undermine ethnic tensions.

To truly build this platform, there is need for the working class activists, progressive youth and students, socialists, left-wing activists and organizations to work towards rebuilding and restructuring trade union movement at local, state and national levels by making them fighting platforms. This is the only way to save the country from the impending doom of ethno-religious cleavages. A responsible and fighting trade union movement and working class political platform will mobilise the anger of the people against the system and thus undermine the growth of ethno-religious centrifugal tensions (Niger Delta violence, Boko haram, Jos crisis, etc) that tend to tear the country apart. This is the major challenge as 2011 approaches.

Section III

1. Workers demand for N35, 000 minimum wage commendable but…

2. Post-workers’ day: a critical review of the political role of labour leadership

1. Post-Workers’ Day: A Critical Review of the Political Role of Labour Leadership

(This article was written in May, 2008 as a review of the Workers’ Day)

Events leading up to this year's May Day in Nigeria again place a central challenge before the labour movement to lead a campaign to end pervasive poverty in Nigeria. In many states (except Abuja where the presence of Oshiomhole changed the mood), the Workers' Day was only made a ritual without much enthusiasm by workers and the poor which further confirms the crisis facing working class people in Nigeria. In many states, the various labour leaders only serve as mouth pieces for their states governments, singing their praises. In Abuja, the national labour leadership, while raising some of workers’ demands did not hesitate to build its hope in the neo-liberal Yar”Adua government. Although, while the May Day might have passed by, the events since then require a serious review in view of the fact that nothing has come the way of the common man for the past one year. Despite the enormous strength of the labour movement and the gigantic struggles it has waged in the past eight years, we must ask why it has not achieved a significant better living for the working masses of Nigeria or why an average Nigerian working family is still poor. The essence of this write-up is to look at the economic and political policies of the labour leadership in the past eight years and to see how the struggle for a better society can be achieved in Nigeria with labour movement at its head. While one recognizes the heroic struggles led by labour leadership, it is necessary to draw out the limitations and the tasks ahead. The write up does not assume to be comprehensive and conclusive but at least some specific and general points are necessary for a robust debate.

While workers in the country are paid poverty wages, politicians are paid hundreds and even millions as salaries and emoluments; for instance, the salary of a ward councilor is almost five times that of a senior civil servant in a south-western state. In many states, workers are paid less than N10, 000 as minimum wage. At the central level, legislators continue to take home millions as emoluments. (Between 2007 and 2008, salaries of politicians were hiked up by over 300 percent leading to hemorrhaging of the nation’s treasury to the tune of over 1.2 trillion naira by just 17477 political offices within a year. Yet, government finds it difficult to implement minimal salary increase for workers.) According to Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), the salary increase for politicians is predicated on the fact that there is inflation and the cost of living has gone up in the country. In the first instance, this argument confirms the failure of leadership in Nigeria. It is funny that the same political class (through its greed) that destroyed the nation's economy are the one now turning around to use their failure as excuse to turn public resources to their personal estates through "the rule of law". Furthermore, a political class that has morality will even ensure that there is less disparity in the wealth distribution, such that there will be enough to develop the nation. What the revenue mobilization committee has not told us is how inflation and cost of living will be lowered for the majority of the citizens who are living in penury when monies meant to develop the economy and provide social services that will ameliorate suffering of the masses end up as bogus salaries and emoluments of political office holders. Another very ridiculous argument is that salary increase for politicians will help curb treasury looting. In other words, this committee is substituting legal for illegal looting since it believes the greed instinct of politicians can be curbed by "legally" diverting public resources to private accounts of politicians. And it should be noted that this committee claims to be the "conscience of the nation" when it comes to financial accountability. This committee has just confirmed my long held belief that the current set of political class will only substitute one form of plundering the nation's wealth for another, and it will never move the nation forward. It is more so ridiculous that the self-styled servant leader has not rejected the jumbo pay.

But this obscene scenario could only happen in this country because the labour movement, which today is the central mobilizing structure of struggle for poor Nigerians, has failed to recognize its historic duty. (One would have expected the central labour leadership to mobilise its rank and file, and the poor people in general against conversion of public resources to politicians by demanding that politicians should earn the wage of workers (as political office is not a profession) and the wealth gained from this used to develop social services like free education and healthcare and embark on massive public works that will employ tens of thousands of youth. disbursement and use of Such accruing wealth should be placed under a democratic committee of the workers, peasants and youth as the political class are not trustworthy. The labour leadership can then demand that the wealth of politicians and all financial dealings of government should be made public and scrutinized by the general public and a democratic committee of the workers, peasants, professionals, youth, etc. it is this kind of campaign drawing in workers and poor people from the grass roots to the national level and involving mass actions including public awareness, protest rallies, and strike, that will provide hope for the impoverished masses.) The strength of the labour movement to provide a political alternative to the present rotten, corrupt, capitalist political class has been clearly shown through the seven successful general strikes organized against the anti-poor, neo-liberal Obasanjo government. But, rather than use its enormous strength to build a political alternative for the country, the labour leadership in the country prefer to maintain a passive attitude towards political struggle. What this has translated into is a political collaborationist policy of many state labour leaders who use the excuse of political impartiality to become sycophants to reigning but ruining state governments. The central labour leaders on the other hands have adopted a policy of 'strategic partnership" with the Yar'Adua government, which in all intent and purposes is not ready to move the country forward. The result of these policies of both local and national labour leadership is the frustration being expressed daily on the faces of poor working people of Nigeria. While poor masses appreciate the gains of the seven general strikes especially in opposing the nefarious fuel price hike, many of them are beginning to lose hope in the possibility of any opposition challenging the madness of leadership in this country.

The past policies of the labour leadership is a clear indication that the labour movement in the country is not prepared to serve as a political alternative to the current rot going on in the country which has ensured obscene wealth for a super-rich one percent of the nation's population while 70 percent of the population are living in penury despite unimaginable wealth that had accrued to the purse of the country. How else could one describe the failure of the labour leadership when one looks at the disposition of labour leadership to some national issues? Take for instance the labour leadership’s positions on privatization, retrenchment, pension reform, wage increment and political collaboration. While labour leadership condemns (not actually fight) retrenchment, it finds it comfortable to be part of privatization committee. But the reality is that one of the central aims of privatization is to reduce production cost and increase workers' exploitation through retrenchment, which will afford the business class to amass unprecedented wealth. In this country, privatization has meant workers' woe as thousands of workers are thrown out of job while those working are threatened with sack if they do not accept management's style that tend to worsen their working conditions. It should be noted that the highest level of retrenchment was achieved mostly through privatization exercise of Obasanjo's government. But the labour movement could not fight privatization, even in the public service, because it has accepted the basis for workers' retrenchment which is privatization.

It is funny that labour leadership has found itself romancing with the argument of the business class that privatization ensure efficient management of the economy. But in actual fact, privatization the world over has meant official looting of public resources because it means transfer of public resources, made with people's sweat to private concerns at rock bottom prices. Aside the fact that privatization itself is corruption, the process of privatization all over the world - from Russia to CIS, Britain, Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria - has been accompanied by unprecedented corruption, bribery and nepotism because it gives the capitalist class cheap access to unmerited wealth, therefore, there is scramble, both legal and illegal, to have access to this largess by all capitalist class thus engendering corruption of government agencies through bribery, favouritism and nepotism. Furthermore, privatization has never served the poor because it makes social services available to the highest bidders while leading up to unemployment, job losses, wealth inequalities, low standard of living, among others. The Nigerian example is instructive. In the telecoms sector, which is seen as the success story of privatization and indeed capitalism, there has been unprecedented shortchanging of the masses. Between 1999 and 2007, the private telecoms operators amassed up to a trillion naira as profit, but they directly employ less than one percent of the workforce while young, educated Nigerians are made to serve as poor sellers of their product – a job which hardly lift them out of poverty. In fact, some of these private telecoms companies were given tax break for more than five years, yet Nigeria's telecommunication service is the costliest in the world. Despite their huge wealth, these telecoms companies still rely on NITEL facilities (a company declared as invalid by government), owing it up to N80 billion in unpaid fees for use of its facilities. Despite the huge resources at the disposal of these telecoms companies, they could not build facilities needed for their existence but have to rely parasitically on NITEL. Is this not a sign that these so-called multinational companies cannot develop the economy? Other sub-sectors like the port, energy, etc are only worse examples. (For instance, despite trillions of naira made as profits, multinational oil companies have failed to mitigate the environmental consequences of their oil exploitation in the Niger Delta leading to environmental degradation, oil spillage and gas flaring that has cost billions of naira in wealth loss and destroyed our airspace.)

The labour leadership has failed to realize this clear fact that privatization, as a cardinal objective of capitalism, has not lifted humanity and cannot lift a poor economy like Nigeria out of underdevelopment. While labour sometime condemns privatization, it is mainly done in a piecemeal and confused manner. For instance, while it condemned the sale of refineries to some individuals, it fails to condemn privatization as a whole and even demand for the immediate nationalization of the oil industry under the democratic control of the working people themselves, which would have made the oil wealth of the country going to the private accounts of multinational corporations and their local collaborators to be used for the collective need of the poor working people of Nigeria. It rather demanded for a transparent privatization process, as if privatization itself is transparent. While it is agreed that public corporations have been corruptly and inefficiently run, it is clear that the same politicians, who are only compensated for political patronage, with appointments to boards of public corporations, that pillaged these once thriving public corporations and are now the ones buying or serving as fronts for multinationals to buy these public hard-earned public properties. Privatization cannot therefore serve as solution but only a democratic control in which the working people will have access to the account books and make policies in public interests that can serve as lasting solution. Unfortunately, the labour leadership has been kow-towing the political and business class. The implication of this is that the labour leadership at all levels could not genuinely fight the end results of privatization – massive retrenchment, salary freeze and reduction, over-work, exploitation, etc.

For instance, while labour make some radical statements in the press, it has never fought against retrenchment rather, labour leadership in many sectors only call for adequate payment of terminal benefits of retrenched workers. But can a labour leadership that fails to defend jobs fight for a worker after retrenchment? This is glaring from the reaction of the labour leadership to pension issues. It is a clear fact that labour leadership has never taken the issue of fighting for adequate and promptly-paid pension for retired workers as action programme, yet tens of thousands of pensioners continue to groan in poverty as a result of unpaid pension arrears. But the same labour leadership is comfortable in being part of pension boards which exploit workers in the interest of the capitalist class. Or how else can one describe a situation in which money is deducted from workers salaries in the name of contributory pension and handed over to private businessmen who make unprecedented wealth from it, not by investing in productive business but through stock market gambling and debt trading. At the end of the day, workers are shortchanged because most of these businessmen will not easily hand over workers' contribution to them especially when such monies are making profit for them in the stock and bond markets. Worse still, when there is downfall in the stock markets, it is the workers and especially the pensioners that are made to bear the brunt of the fat-cat greed. (While private employers will manipulate the system so as to gain from workers’ pension wealth, top government officials, in connivance with pension agencies (many of whom are front of politicians or have connection with top echelon of the government officials) to gratify themselves by postponing the payment of pensioners’ entitlements. Thus, pensioners are doubly exploited: their salaries as workers are cut and used by private big business to make profits while they are again thrown back to the old system of unpaid or inadequate but irregular pension payment.)

Already, the signs of this are clear as there are talks of giving decade-long bond to workers. The meaning of this is that workers will be given a sheet of paper acknowledging that they have money with the pension administrators but that they could not get the money. But can a sheet of paper buy rice in the market or pay school fees. The implication is that these parasitic pension administrators are looking for opportunity to deny workers their pay because by the time the so called pension bond would have matured some of them would have died. Also, reports have revealed that many private companies (employers) are already defaulting in their contribution while those contributing are only using their business fronts and collaborators as pension administrators such that the monies will recycle for their business. Even, the public service pension scheme is already rooted in fraud as most of pension administrating companies are owned by politicians who use workers wealth for personal business. Definitely, the new pension scheme will go the way of the defunct and fraudulent mortgage fund and social insurance fund when certain percentage of workers’ salaries were extorted by the military rulers to serve the interests of their political and big business patrons. Ironically however, the labour leadership has been a member of the new pension board that sit over this exploitation, but the same labour leadership will be issuing statement out when the results of its collaborationist policy come out. Already, over N800 billion has been exploited from workers' wealth either directly (through deductions from salaries) or indirectly (through deductions from companies’ profits, the burden of which are shifted on workers and consumers through cost cuts and hiked prices respectively), which gives the capitalist class unprecedented access to cheap opportunity to make unmerited wealth. A labour leadership with a genuine purpose would have mobilized the workers and the poor people in general for a mass action to ensure immediate payment of adequate, living pension for all pensioners, living or dead.

But the failure of labour leadership is more glaring when one looks at the character of the wage increment agitation. While labour leadership's struggle to ensure implementation of wage increment is commendable, the fact is that this struggles have only been defensive as most wage increment are products of government's initiative which are mostly meant to douse mass anger or to gain political favour not as a deliberate attempt to redistribute wealth as most of the wage increment are accompanied by other anti-poor policies that tend to take back the gains of the wage increment - retrenchment, fuel price hike, etc. Of course labour leadership usually negotiates with government on wage increment, but there are no action programmes to compel government to pay, thus the implementation is left at the messianic benevolence of the government. The immediate implication of this is that the meagre increase is used to justify the long-term and continuous plundering of the nation's wealth by the business and political class. The labour leadership should have drawn out a wage increment based on current living cost, inflation and wealth value of the country. Furthermore, all other basic social facilities that are meant to be provided for workers, their poor families and relation who constitute the 70 percent poor of this country will be included in a Charter of Demands to abolish working and poor people's poverty. Such demands, aside a adequate living minimum wage will include adequately funded (by at least 26 percent) free and qualitative education and health care; secure jobs for all citizens with adequate pension and old age wages; cheap, efficient and environment-friendly transport, energy and communication system; potable water supply; mass public housing, among others. Then, the labour movement will mobilize the masses through press campaign, rallies, mass meeting, publication, alliance with other progressive and pro-labour organizations, protest marches, pickets and strike action, which will force the government to take a decisive action. It is then that the labour movement can make the working and poor masses to have faith in this country; it is then that the masses will get actively involved in issues affecting them thus pushing the political and business class to the defensive.

But these demands can only be achieved in the long run when the resources of the country is put under the democratic public ownership whereby the enormous wealth of the country (both natural and material), rather than going to the private use of political and big business class, will be used to achieve these programmatic demands. But, this will again place the issue to the political plain because the current sets of politicians are in power to ensure the continued existence of neo-liberal capitalist system. In fact, many politicians are sponsored by business class. The policies of Yar’Adua government since inception and the manner of its emergence have clearly underscored this fact. While masses are groaning in poverty, the Yar'Adua government preferred to impose another electricity tax on the country even when it is clear that the political and business class have looted the nation's wealth dry for this purpose. The same government that cannot arrest and prosecute the political and business leaders who contributed to the failure of the Nigerian state is ready to impose electricity tax on hapless and poor Nigerians in the name of boosting private investment. But is it not the same private investors (both local and foreign) that played active role in the mindless looting of the over $16 billion electricity funds wasted by Obasanjo government on electricity. The Yar’Adua government should tell Nigerians how it intends to serve Nigerians when it hiked electricity prices in favour of the business sharks in a country where 70 percent are poor and less than 30 percent of Nigerians have access to the erratic electricity. From education to health, infrastructure and the economy, the Yar’Adua government has shown that it is the continuation of the anti-poor Obasanjo government. Yet, it is this kind of government that labour leaders are having strategic partnership with. This is most unfortunate tragedy of labour movement in Nigeria.

Therefore, unless the labour movement is ready to proffer a political alternative by forming a pan-Nigerian, radical, mass workers' party with democratic socialism boldly written on its front banner, the political class will never implement these demands. Such a party would be built as a fighting party that will champion all the programmes and demands of the labour movement. It will build its democratic structures from grass root up to the national level such that the views and positions of workers at workplaces and grass root levels will count. Such a party will also serve as the political tool of struggle for the working people. The party will then contend power with the current corrupt capitalist class either through elections and if the ruling class refuses, through social uprising. The working masses are ready to commit their lives to struggle for a changed society. This is reflected in the political support Adams Oshiomhole is enjoying today from the working poor which reflect masses’ interest in struggles that can better their lot. It is unfortunate that Oshiomhole and labour leadership have only translated this to support for the capitalist class. For instance, rather than for Oshiomhole to build the labour party as a radical, fighting mass workers' party, he preferred to contest under a bourgeois party. While one does not doubt the sincerity of labour leaders or that of Oshiomhole, it is important to look reality in the face.

The labour movement more than ever has shown that it has the wherewithal to lift the masses up and change Nigeria for better. It should translate this to action plan. It is when labour does this that the masses will be lifted up and be ready to commit their lives for this transformation of Nigeria from the stranglehold of the capitalist system to a just, socialist system where the need of people will be the basis of governance and production. The recent call for a protest rally against corruption (perpetrated by the Obasanjo government in the power sector) is commendable but the labour leadership should not make this to be an episodic action it must be organised across the length and breadth of the country and sustained until those ruinous, corrupt capitalist rulers who looted the nation blind are brought to book. Also, the labour should link the general socio-economic demands to improve the live of the common man with the call for a public probe. But ultimately, only a working class government that will emerge from a fighting mass working class party that can fully implement these demands. Events have confirmed this. The labour leadership should act now. This is the lesson of this year’s Workers’ Day.

2. WORKERS DEMAND FOR N35, 000 MINIMUM WAGE COMMENDABLE BUT…

Written in August, 2008

The recent demand by the civil service senior staff union for a minimum wage of N35, 000, a position which has earlier been canvassed by the central labour unions, is commendable in all ramifications. This wage calculation is based on what Nigerian government claim to be spending on a prison inmate. Although, it is a known fact that prisoners, a sizable chunk of whom are victims of decadent justice/injustice system, are living below abject poverty level as they only eke out a living not from the so-called government welfare package (calculated at N35, 000 per head monthly) – another conduit pipe for diversion of public fund – but from menial jobs they do. What the workers’ calculation simply tells us is that an average Nigerian worker, whose last minimum wage is N5, 500 is living below the official level of a prisoner. Or to glamourise it, Nigerian workers are living like prisoners in their own country. To dispute this fact, this writer challenges anybody to make a visit to any factory in Lagos, local government secretariat or primary/post-primary school.

In a sane country no one needs to tutor the Nigerian ruling class, going by the pervasive poverty, misery and ever-skyrocketing inflation, of the need to always increase the take-home pay of workers, at least based on official inflation and cost of living bases. To further underline the tragedy of governance in Nigeria, the revenue mobilization commission (RMFARC), which recently hiked the already bogus pay of public officials by 250 percents, premising the increase in the Christmas gifts on “increasing inflation”, and its sister organization – Wages Commission, could not apply the same logic to the teachers, who has no retinue of assistants, but toil day and night just to make something out of the battered and adequately under funded educational system for the sake of the poor children. Despite the fact that inflation affects the poor more than the rich, the governments find it difficult to hearken to the cry of teachers for better pay until it became a public disgrace for it. Presently, diesel and kerosene prices, which are major determinants in the daily lives of the poor people, have been increased by over 50 percent in the past few weeks which has definitely rubbed off on other consumer prices like the already spiraling food prices, transport fare, etc. But our politicians live at public expense, therefore they hardly fell the misery of the poor unless they (political office holders) become victims of robberies or when their children could not undertake certain examinations as a result of teachers’ strike.

Looking at these scenarios, one finds it extremely modest, the salary proposal by the labour union. The N35, 000 minimum wage manifestly fall below the spiraling inflation rate in the country which, since 2001 when workers’ wages were first increased, has increased by over 500 percents – if one ignores the elitist calculation of the CBN which prioritizes capital and luxurious goods while glossing over consumer prices that affect the poor. This is aside the increasing cost of services like education and healthcare, which are becoming the exclusive preserve of the already rich few no thanks to the anti-poor neo-liberal policies of the commercialization. Within the same period, workers’ wages have only increased by less than 50 percent while take home pay of political office holders has climbed up to 1000 percents height, aside other official perks. What the N35, 000 salary proposal of labour union implies is that a worker will be living on less than N1, 200 daily wage which will include cost of transport, feeding, energy cost (note that a bottle of kerosene (about 0.55 liters) now cost around N130 in addition to the ever epileptic power supply), etc. This is assuming that the minimally paid worker has no dependant or family engagement.

As modest as this salary demand is, the government apologists have already scandalously begun a smear campaign to tag workers as greedy, selfish and corrupted. To them, workers demand will only amount to economic coup de sac because the recurrent expenditure has already taken a sizable portion of public budget. One only needs to add that the recurrent expenditure include the over N1.2 trillion to be spent this year on bogus salaries and allowances for 17, 474 political office holders at all levels. This amount (N1.2 trillion) can employ one million workers with monthly minimum wage of N100, 000, yet these idle politicians who consumes over N1.2 trillion are just around 0.05 percent of the estimated workforce of 30 million. The estimated N1.2 trillion is aside other means of milking the country dry. For instance, the Yar’Adua government, which claim to be combating corruption recently conceded to an N54 billion constituency allocation (running to almost N300 million for each legislator) in the 2008 budget. Though, it is claimed that the money will not be lodged in the legislators’ accounts as is the norm in the Obasanjo regime (and in many state like Osun where government lodged N5 million into private accounts of state legislators for yearly “constituency projects”), the rule however allow legislators to determine which projects to be executed and which contractor to collect the project.

In this era when big time looters and corrupt officers only get a slap on the wrist (and where billion are already missing in the public treasury), this “constituency deal” between Yar’Adua and the legislators is another euphemism for official bribery, nepotism and misapplication of public resources under the guise of due process. Someone has even suggested a new formula for the Yar’Adua’s rule of law: public punishment for looters is inversely proportional to the amount looted or squandered. Despite huge resources accruing to the country’s purse for the past one year running to over N1 trillion monthly, nothing tangible has been done to improve the parlous state of the country – education is still being neglected as reflected in the recent teachers’ strike; public health (both preventive and curative) is in doldrums as Nigerians still rank among the unhealthiest in the world; public roads are in dilapidated state while energy crisis still ravages every facet of the Nigerian society. The Niger Delta is still ravaged in poverty with unprecedented poverty while meagre resources budgeted to the area hardly reach the poor. What then will be the argument for governments not to pay its productive population at least a living standard of a prisoner?

It should be noted that workers’ living standard has direct relation with economic development. Aside the fact that a worker have right to the fruit of their labour, workers’ wages also lead to redistribution of wealth and thus check the current pervasive wealth inequality in the country as most workers have dependants and thus constitute major consumers in the market. It has also been raised that the new salary increase will only lead to spiraling inflation. The point is that, there is already running inflation, which has made lives unbearable for the teeming millions of working but poor people, and all economic indices and government policies do not suggest that the inflation will cease. Government has already concluded plans to hike fuel prices and taxes; electricity is still epileptic while food prices have responded to all other negative economic indices. Therefore, workers can only demand for increased wages to cushion the effect of these unbearable conditions.

There has been argument that government cannot fix wages for the private sector as this will kill private business. But we must ask the question: does the government fix infrastructure and market for the same private sector. While the government policy of N5, 500 minimum wage and wage flexibility (which made casualization of job very easy) has helped the private sector to exploit labour cheaply, it has at the same time handed over billions of naira to the private sector, especially financial sector. While the ministry of works has been made desolate, suitcase contractors have taken over governments’ projects; paying less than 20 percent of their profits as tax. Through neo-liberal policies of privatization of public enterprises, commercialization of social services, trade liberalization, sale of government bonds, oil block sales, contracting of projects, etc, every government policy is tailored towards the so-called private sector, which main patrons are the same government officials and politicians in power, or foreign companies having links with politicians in power. Thus, it is funny to try to make a so-called distinction of the private sector.

The question of the inability of smaller firms to cope is unjustified. In the first instance, the smaller a firm the smaller the workforce, therefore their financial commitment is lower to those of the big firms which they aspire to become by exploiting workers. The account of any firm that cannot pay should be made open for public scrutiny of the workers and the general public. If any private firm cannot pay adequate wage for its workers, such should be taken over by government and handed over to workers to run through democratically elected representatives and professionals earning average salaries of skilled workers. The owners of such business should be compensated based on proven needs. The argument that state governments cannot be dictated to is to say the least hypocritical. The same state governments who now want to be champions of federalism should tell us how were salaries of politicians in power who consume over 50 percent of state resources determined. How was billions given to the states monthly, which have made the few rich politicians richer at the expense of the public infrastructures, determined.

The argument for salary increase however is not a justification for the criminal neglect of the social services and the implementation of neo-liberal, anti-poor economic policies of the government which actually cause economic dislocation and inflation for the teeming and impoverished millions. For instance, public sector workers’ salaries have only been increased three times but fuel prices have been increased more than seven times, while social services like education, healthcare, etc have been commercialized out of the reach of the common man. On the other hand, public utilities and corporations that should subsidize goods and services are being privatized to politicians and moneybags who individually and severally milked these public institutions dry, in conjunction with their foreign collaborators. Therefore, the source of inflation and economic dislocation should be put at the doorstep of the looting class.

However, with the rabid determination of all the politicians of all shades and hues to continue the neo-liberal capitalist economic policies of commercialization, privatization, cut in social spending, trade liberalization, etc all of which have ensured unrestricted wealth for the one percent of the population (that controls 80 percent of the nation’s oil wealth) and continued misery for the toiling millions; it will be sheer illusion for the labour movement to conclude that the current salary increase, if finally won can guarantee better living on a long term basis for the workers and the poor in general. The reality is that every dime increase in the living standard of the poor people means an attack on the illicit right of the ruling class to milk the fruit of labour; therefore, a right won by workers, if not linked with the overall change in the unequal neo-liberal system, will be taken back by the capitalist ruling class on behalf of the big business class at the next possible time. It should be noted that every salary increase has been accompanied by several other policies meant to take away the gain of the increase. The Obasanjo salary 12.5 percent increase was accompanied by wide scale retrenchment, fuel price and VAT hikes and fraudulent monetization and pension policies, among several others.

Therefore, labour movement while correctly posing the demand of workers for better pay, must to link this with other programmatic demands that will give a sustainable living to not only the workers but the poor people in general. It is a known fact that the popularity of the labour movement in Nigeria, especially the NLC was gained by its leading role in the struggle against incessant fuel price hike. This must be consolidated. This is the time when workers’ should be demanding for: free, quality, adequately funded, and democratically-run education and healthcare system, provision of employment for all able bodied citizen, efficient social infrastructures – cheap, efficient and environment friendly transport system (road, water, rail and air), communication system, energy system (electricity and fuel supply), mechanized and poor-peasant-oriented agriculture, potable water and public housing, among others. With this, the long term demands of workers can be linked with the daily needs of all other oppressed people of Nigeria, thus uniting the working and poor people together in a common struggle. If a national summit of all pro-worker, pro-poor organizations including labour movement (NLC, TUC and their affiliates, ASCSN, ASUU, ASUP, COEASU, SSATHURAI, etc), peasants’ unions, market men and women associations, community organizations, youth and students’ movement, unemployed people, pensioners’ association, civil societies, etc, - whose representatives will be democratically chosen while the summit will run from the grass root to the national level – is called to deliberate on how to build a national fighting platform to actualize these demands, it will give a new hope for the working and poor people of this country.

Therefore, the labour movement must not only take this demand for N35, 000 minimum wage serious but start to build the movement from local to the national level to fight for better lives. Local and state workers’ unions should serve as platforms for not only defending workers’ rights but also leading the struggle of the local and community people for better living. It is therefore necessary that labour movement build and strengthen its current alliance with the civil society by not only ensuring that LASCO becomes platform of agitation and struggle at local and state level but also at national level. The current strategic partnership which the central labour leadership, especially NLC is having with the anti-poor Yar’Adua government is opportunistic and will only deny the working and poor people, a serious platform of struggle while also giving the labour leaders at state levels (many of whom have become government apologists) further excuse to sell workers out. How will the labour leadership reconcile its strategic partnership with the current plans of the government to hike fuel prices and taxes, and government refusal to pay the new salary increase? There is no way the labour leadership can expect a committed public support to the current demand for better pay without linking it with other general demands that affect the poor people. On the other hand, leaving the issue to salary increase alone allow the government to blackmail labour as selfish and anti-people. For instance government can use the argument that wage increase will deny unemployed the opportunity of getting jobs, thus creating a prospect of mobilization of unemployed and lumpen-proletariat against workers, which at period of serious political crisis/stalemate can give way to mobilization for fascist shock troopers. Thus, this alliance with the poor people can then become a platform for building a working and poor people’s political alliance.

But it must be noted that the current pro-capitalist, pro-imperialism government cannot implement the aforementioned programmatic demands without jeopardizing its profit interests. Therefore, the labour movement must realize the need to build a mass working and poor people’s political alternative that will wrest power from the current self-serving, capitalist politicians at all levels and create a working people, socialist-oriented government committed to these aforesaid policies – a government that will use public resources for public needs. The current arrangement where working and poor people vote their enemies to government only to come and fight their anti-poor policies is not acceptable. Working and poor people must have their own independent political voice that will serve as a political platform of struggle. Therefore, the labour movement and pro-worker, pro-poor organizations must start a pragmatic way of building this platform. The Labour Party that should naturally serve as the fighting political platform of working and poor people, has become a safe haven for disgruntled politicians who could not achieve their interests in the ruling political parties, while its leadership has become the mouthpiece of capitalist policies. This party must be re-built and re-oriented as a fighting party of the working people with a clear-cut democratic and socialist orientation. The above-proposed national summit while serving as a basis of building a national platform of struggle can also provide the basis of forming a mass political platform.

The teachers’ strike has shown what can be achieved when workers and the poor people come together to struggle for a demand. Without NUT and central labour leadership building on this feat, the government will only buy time to break the fighting bones of workers and renege on its promises or water than the gain of the strike.

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