Comrade Onikolease Irabor; the out-going President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria is indeed a very lucky man. He took over the affairs of the union after a very turbulent period which culminated in the appointment of a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the union. As a member of the federal government caretaker committee, I saw what the union was like prior to the 2001 intervention. It was a fulfilled Comrade Irabor that ushered me into his expansive office last Thursday for this landmark chat where he opened up on his challenges and achievements as the PG of a very powerful union for eight years
Considering how you started about eighth years ago and how far you have gone, I sincerely congratulate you for having come this far.
Thank you very much for your support. It is as result of the collective efforts of everyone; including the media that I have been able to come this far. Thank you very much.
Eight years down the road, how do you feel?
I am highly elated and I am grateful to God Almighty who has been able to make me to be what I am. All the credit goes to God. He is the one that made me to be here, he made me successful to the point that I am today, I am highly grateful to God and I feel very okay. I am one of the happiest leaders that we can have. I am also happy in the sense that when I came on board, I came with full parts of my body and I am leaving office as president general with all the parts of the body intact. The same goes for all the executives who were elected to work with me eight years ago; they are all intact; we are all going to the conference together very soon, I did not lose any one of them. It is something I need to be happy about, irrespective of the ups and downs; we were able to suppress all the pressures. So, here we are today, I am grateful to God and I am happy.
What will you consider as your most outstanding achievement?
Well I think the first achievement for which I have to give credit to God is the issue of peace, because without peace, we cannot be where we are today. You will recall what Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria was comparable to prior to my coming on board and compared to what it is today. I am so happy that we have peace all over. Secondly, as I have said earlier, my other achievement is how we were able to deal with the welfare of the workers, because the purpose of my being elected is for me to look into the affairs and welfare of the workers; which we did. For the four branches, I think I have done my best and I think it is the best that we can achieve as at now. We have recorded a lot of improvements in the condition of the service of our members. I know where I met them in terms of their take – home pay and all their allowances and I know where they are today, so I give thanks to God. They too can testify that when this man came on board, we were like this and now we are like this, they will be able to testify. You can also go to them and they will tell you that the leadership of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria has actually improved the condition of service of members, and not only that, we also achieved success in the issue of port reform. Somebody might be looking at it from another angle; the reform is also something that we have to look into. The union is very focused and we want to join other nations all over the world in terms of operations in the maritime sector. We must be able to join them by allowing the ports to be reformed. It is the type of reforms that we should talk about because it is important that we should mention it as a part of the achievements under the leadership of this union that we agreed with the federal government that the port should reformed. We did not agree that the port should be sold, but the intention of the federal government was to sell the port by total privatization, we fought and it’s under concession now. It is a very big achievement too, I think the maritime industry in general realized that there is a good leader for the union. The achievements are so much that I cannot be mentioning them one by one. But the major thing is that the purpose for which we were elected have been achieved.
Not many people will agree with you that you have done well for dockworkers in terms of their wages
On the issue of dock workers, you must know that this union has also achieved something great for the dockworkers in the sense that today you can talk about the minimum standard which is the condition of service for the dockworkers which has never been there before. That was why they were paid N200, 000 as at that time of port concession, because there was no condition of service. But as at today, if any dockworker is to be retired we will be talking about millions of Naira, Why employees of NPA were treated better was because they have a good condition of service. Now there is a commitment and an agreement between the union, federal government and the dockworkers’ employers and there is condition of service today. I want to say that dockworkers are treated well now, their take home salary today is something that we can say that okay we have done something, it was not like that before so it is an achievement. Even, the working environment has never been like this, now you see that dockworkers are well treated except for those terminals who are trying to hide, but at least more than 80 per cent are complying with the agreement, so it is a big achievement. For those who are working in the terminals today, they can tell you that the terminal operators are complying with the agreement.
In the eight years that you have held sway as the PG of the union, what will you consider as most challenging?
I will tell you that port concession was one of the most serious challenges that I faced, apart from the issue of concession no other thing has hit the membership of the union for the period of eight years that we spent. Apart from the issue of port reforms, nobody can retrench any worker as far as this union is concerned, we don’t allow it. But port reform was an issue that was inevitable, when the federal government came out to say that the port is going to be privatized, we came out and fought and we were able to secure an agreement with the government and they turned privatization to concessioning. In order words, there is still the Nigerian Ports Authority, the initial plan of the government was to kill the ports, and they wanted to erase the name of the port authority even to the point of having two ports in the whole country. This union fought to bring it to one port, because we told the federal government that it was an illegality. They agreed with us and they reversed the decision; those were the fights. We fought for our members’ jobs, but because the reform was a national issue, we were affected by having our membership strength reduced. It was a socking thing that happened to us, but we could not have avoided it because if we say we want to avoid it, many people would have lost there lives and the union also could have been affected as well. It was a big blow that has affected the union because we lost our members, that is one of the major challenges that has befell this union, it was a difficult time, but the only thing we did was that we were able to negotiate and got what we have got and that is why you see that there is NPA in existence today. I think when we came on board we fought and I believe we have conquered.
Elections are coming up soon and there are insinuations that you have more than a passing interest in who will succeed you.
Well, trade union election is one of the biggest democratized elections all over the world, trade union election does not even allow any rigging, because, it is by direct voting, it is not a political election were people are prepared to rig the election. How are they going to rig the election, you know me and I know you, I know what you can do. For the eight years that we have worked together, everybody understands each other. So, if you have to canvass or you want to test your popularity at the delegates’ conference, you go there; we normally line up and open ballot system was what we used in the pats, but now it is open secret.
When did the rules change?
That is what the law says now. Before I came on board, it was line up (open ballot), but at the time I got contested for president general’s position, it was open secret and that is what the law says, it is not anybody’s doing, the constitution is clear on the matter.
I am told that you determine who picks nomination forms
That is not correct. I have never thought about that; talk less of doing it at all. The forms are there and collection has not closed as at this time that we are talking. People are collecting forms, so it is not even within my own jurisdiction to be asking because there is a national secretariat that is responsible for that. It is not the duty of the president general to be monitoring who collects forms or who did not, as at today I don’t know who and who have collected the forms. It is the secretary general and the secretariat that are vested with that responsibility.
Do you know how many have picked forms so far?
I don’t know and I may not even know until we get to the delegates conference, there is going to be a screening committee that is going to come out with their own report that will be read. Those who collected forms and where they got their support, everything will be read to the whole house. For those who know that even though they collected forms and they get to the field, they will not win the election, what do you expect them to be saying? They will be going about to say something that is not in existence. The door is open, nobody asked them not to collect, if you like, you collect for any position. To say I have anointed someone or some people is not correct.
Do you who will succeed you?
I don’t. I will know at the conference. Anybody can succeed me, they are there canvassing and campaigning, what I told them not to do is that the terminals are not political campaign centres, so you are not supposed to be carrying posters to disturb people at the terminals. We are talking about reforms, as a union leader, are you supposed to be carrying posters to the terminal? No you are not supposed to. If you are now carrying your posters to the terminals, those people you are carrying your posters to at the terminals are they delegates to the conference, are they coming to vote? Why do you want to go there to disturb the peace of the operations? And that is why I asked them that let us do this thing internally, you can have your internal campaign, you know the delegates so talk to them and they know you, they will choose who and who they want to lead them. It all depends on your antecedents and what you can do, they have known you for eight years, they know those who can handle the position, people know you and what you are. You know, if someone goes to school for eight years, he should be able to pass out, there are so many of them that are not going to pass out. So it is not true that I have anointed anybody.
I am also told that you have zoned the position of President General to a particular branch
I think that will amount to rigging, no I cant do that, as PG I should be open to everybody, they are all my executive members and my happiness is that nobody is coming from outside to contest, it is within, and we know ourselves very well. If I go and say this is the person that can be able to do it, my members may say no, we don’t need him, so that is the position, It is not for me to choose anyone for any position, I won’t do it and I am not expected to do it. The president general’s position is not zoned to any branch, you performance is what will determine your fate, it is not because NPA had produced the PG before, then you say no it must go her or there, it is not a rotational position, it is open to everybody as far as you get to the delegates conference. There is no branch at the delegates’ conference. As far as the delegates’ conference is concerned, it is the delegates’ conference of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria.
So, I want to reiterate that I have not anointed anybody, anointing comes from God. I am not God and it is only God Almighty that anoints people.
I believe that anybody anointed by God will take over this seat.
After handing over on March 27th, what is next for you?
Well, it is God that plans for me, so, if I tell you that this is what I want to do and it is not endorsed by God, I go no where, that is why I have given myself to God Almighty. He made me to become PG; he is the one that will make another way for me because it is only God that makes a way for His own servant. And mind you, I am only leaving the post of the president general for another person to come in, because I have only two terms, you know I am still the deputy president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, so am still a labour leader. I can still play my labour role at the national level of the NLC and I am still an executive board member of the International Transport Workers Federation, I have not left there. The new president general will take care of everything, while I stay on another level as the deputy president of NLC.
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