On Retrenchment: Punch You Are Wrong

By

Kola Ibrahim

ibrolenin@yahoo.com

 

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, the government and it so-called reform oriented apologists including some self-proclaimed enlightened media have left no stone unturned in analyzing and justifying why retrenchment must be done. 

 

However, one is appalled by the inhuman and un-intellectual justification these people who want retrenchment and the inconclusive positions of the NLC leadership which has been giving oral commitment to the fight against redundancy. 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, 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 what his/her own concept of labour implies. According to economic theory, 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 neo-liberal “reformists” 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. How will a worker employed ten to twenty years ago, be redundant if the same facility or department or establishment where he was working is effective or functional.

 

For instance, if social services like education, health, roads, telecommunication, etc have been expanded or improved upon beyond what they were, twenty years ago, it means that more teachers, education workers, clerical workers, medical staff, engineers, scientists, social scientists, economist, even drivers, cleaners, farmers, etc will be employed more and such will definitely engender economic development not growth that was based on how much each politician or businessman can squeeze out of the nation’s oil wealth or labour. If the resources of the country have been directed towards this direction, the country will be one of the economies to be reckoned with internationally. This nationalist cum welfarist programmes was started by the rulers of the 1960’s and 70’s which was however frustrated and destroyed by some of the politicians and military men of the 1980’s and 90’s (many of whom are agents of the CIA and imperialist governments) and more ruthlessly by the present crop of self serving corrupt, ideologically bankrupt politicians who are now blaming workers for their crimes.

 

All countries of the world especially the advanced who are developed today did so not by embracing neo-liberalism (laissez faire) – even when propounded by Adam Smith – but by massive investments in social projects and labour developing programmes like public works such as education health, infrastructures, which created massive job for the citizens. We are aware of the Marshall Plans and New Deal programmes of the European countries and United States which were implemented after the capitalist economic catastrophe of the 1930’s and the accompanying  second world war. Yet the same advanced countries are now preaching (and in fact forcing) neo-liberalism – that is privatization, commercialization, retrenchment, trade liberalization, etc. – all of which are meant to make labour cheap, labour’s product cheap and thus provide huge and unprecedented profits for the Europe- and US-based (now joined by Japan, China, Russia, etc. as adjoint economies) multinational and transnational corporations. Furthermore, the major advancements, discoveries and progresses made by this country were done during the era when public utilities were in place that is when workers were efficiently used and properly – at least – remunerated. Even, our professors, doctors, and citizens who had achieved a lot were developed through public services – schools, job, medical services, etc. these are what private businesses, and multinationals are using cheaply today.  And it was the undivided commitments of workers (young and old) who made these happen. But today, they are now inefficient, corrupt and backward! 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 that are idle because the projects have been given to contractors who employ few in order to gain more profits.   

               

 While thousands of workers are sacked, those working are super-exploited, by government and especially private businessmen. In fact, government agencies are now running on casual workers. Yet, businessmen, multinationals and politicians continue to amassed unprecedented wealth which they term “economic growth”.   They tell us, in a fantastic manner how workers will prosper if sacked and given his entitlement. Aside a few symbolic cases, disengaged workers have been organizing protests and strikes to get their entitlements. 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. Even to maintain a decent living for a family, the entitlements cannot suffice. 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 dwindling consumer patronage (thanks to neo-liberal policies of fuel price hike, retrenchment etc). I hope the writer is not expecting 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 justifies the N33 million spent annually on a former minister of finance who asked us to tighten our belt for ‘better’ 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. Yes, through duplication of office and compensation for campaign guys, many of her likes are reproduced – 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. 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 enough to maintain, retrain and develop existing labour force; and also absorb thousand of job seeking youths.

 

On capital project, it is facts continue to emerge on how several billions are being wasted daily on ghost project even by government officials. At least we have heard of N100 billion Turn Around Maintenance fund, over N200 billion on road contract during Mr. Tony Anenih’s tenure, over N300 billion spent on 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 at large. 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 more judiciously used. Just few days ago, the president announced that millions were squandered by his vice and some politicians under his nose while Atiku has also revealed how they jointly, along with some politicians loot nation’s wealth in private, secret accounts.

 

Despite huge money that have accrued to the country in the past seven years running to over $200 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. At the same time, government compensated 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 companies are shortchange Nigeria via capital flight, retrenchment, etc.

 

All these are ignored by the government apologists and so-called informed minds, but rather call workers bad name so as to hang it. While one agrees with the argument of labour leadership on waste by public officers, 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 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 at the public office but 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 continuous struggles at local, state and national levels. Anti-neoliberalism campaign must be launched at every locality linked with a national body. Such organ must involve students, youth, the progressive media, human right organizations, community people, unemployed, pensioners, etc to defend people’s right to basic means of livelihood – like job, education, health, pension, etc. which are being eroded away by the government of the day.

 

To permanently resolve the crisis, the labour must be ready to confront this decadent capitalist system which generates these policies 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 radical organizations to form a working people’s political platform with socialism boldly written on its burner, that will wrestle power from these corrupt capitalist politicians and create an egalitarian, socialist society where people’s need will form the basis of production, distribution and governance. Without this systemic alternative, the working masses will be forced to support one of the corrupt politicians who will continue the neo-liberal policies.

 

KOLA IBRAHIM

Obafemi Awolowo University,

P.O. Box 1319, GPO, Enuwa, Ile-Ife.          

ibrolenin@yahoo.com