No Cat And Rat Game In Osun

Kunle Oyatomi

…When Labour leaders celebrate Oyetola

Why is the State of Osun not witnessing deadly cat-and-rat-game skirmishes, typical of the relationship between labour and government in most Nigerian settings? How come, instead of raising arms against the administration of Governor Gboyega Oyetola and spewing out traditional working class invectives, union leaders have sheathed their weapons and are hailing the governor and literally campaigning for another tenure for him at the next ballot in a few months? Is it that Osun has unions whose leaders don’t have the backbone to stand up to the authorities?

These were the questions that arose as workers in Osun marked their day in Osogbo, the capital, on the First of May, 2022. The usual spectacles of the march past by the gaily attired workers and their leaders were drowned by emotional effusions celebrating the achievements of the All Progressives Congress, APC, government, prompting the questions that opened this piece.

They would appear to be rhetorical if viewed from a narrow prism without a contextual consideration. But we need to stand on this broad platform to help our understanding of what’s going in Osun between labour and government of the day.

We begin with the last question in the set, because addressing it would render the other posers needless. The answer we get there leads us to new grounds of the relationship between the government and workers.

Labour leaders in the state aren’t weaklings. Nor have they lost the power to bark at government and bite where they must. They can’t bark if they don’t have to. And they are not expected to stick in their teeth to draw blood where the need doesn’t arise. Labour resorts to attacks, expressed in work stoppages, strikes (total or partial), picketing, public protests etc. when government breaches its end of the bargain to care for the workers. What does it mean to care for the workers, especially the civil servants, those employed by the government and its agencies? It simply means meeting the expectations of the workers by promptly paying their salaries and topping this action up with regular promotions and initiation of a salutary operational ambience that accommodates post-service entitlements that must be honored at all times.

At this stage, let’s allow the leaders of the workers to talk. Hear Comrade Jacob Adekomi, Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Osun. Speaking on the Workers Day, he acknowledged the laudable feats of Governor Oyetola in adding value to the lives of his colleagues. Adekomi said further: ‘’We shall always be grateful to you (governor) for having listening ears to our yearnings and for putting balms on our sores. We are very happy because Mr. Governor has made our day. He has shown to us once again that he is a promise keeper with the approval of our demands that have been ordered for immediate implementation…Fellow comrades, it will not be out of place for me to declare that in our State (Osun), we already have the antidote to insecurity, restiveness, retrogression, stagnancy and hopelessness and the antidote is none other than His Excellency, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola.’’

The remarks of two other union leaders, Comrades Adekola Adebowale and Bayo Adejumo of Trade Union Congress, TUC and Joint Negotiating Council, JNC, respectively, reaffirmed the stand of their NLC colleague, as they echoed: ’’We are solidly behind you (Oyetola) and your Administration.

When it was the turn of the governor to speak, he made it known to the world that the achievements which have made his government a friend of labour spring from its ‘’commitment to the welfare of the entire workforce, including pensioners.’’ According to him, it is in ‘’fulfillment of our electioneering campaigns.’’ Oyetola added that ‘’As a matter of deliberate policy, and contrary to what we inherited, salaries of all categories of workers, including leave allowances across the State and pension, are being paid in the last week of every month.’’

There can’t be industrial feuds where you have a government whose singular mission, vision and passion is to please its workers and the larger citizenry. Both won’t work at cross purposes, with one seeking to build and another looking for bulldozers to pull down what is being erected. The people would rather wish for a continuation of that government in power.

Yet, the impact of such a governor would also be noted by observers from non-political actors. Which is why, come May 20, a leading newspaper in the country, Vanguard, is crowning Adegboyega Oyetola as the Governor of the Year 2021. This strongly buttresses the clamour for a second term for the accomplished Iragbiji-born governor.

Oyatomi Esq, is the Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in the State of Osun .