Interview with NLC President Wabba: The Labour Party has activated its political commission in 36 states

In this interview, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, claims that in preparation for the 2023 general elections, workers have reclaimed the Labour Party and turned on their political commissions in all 36 states of the nation. According to him, the party would elect some undesirable members out.

The part Nigerian workers will play in making sure they cast ballots to choose the next President.

The first is that workers are now being encouraged to actively participate in this democratic system by electing reliable candidates and leaders to all positions because Nigeria's issue had actually been the difficulty of leadership. And we believed that after taking this path, we still had the chance to elect leaders, with labor playing a crucial role by raising the awareness of our members at all levels.

You may recall that we first convened the NLC Political Summit, where we were able to debate concerns with nearly 3,000 workers from all of our affiliates. The Workers Charter of Demand, which we developed, serves as the basis for our engagement strategy with politicians. But equally significant is the fact that we were able to revive the Labour Party, which is actively trying to sensitize workers. Our political commission has been activated in every state, and we are currently focusing on the ward and local government levels.

In the end, we desire active participation from every employee. You are also aware that we have instructed our employees to obtain PVCs for individuals who do not already have them, and you can observe the current rise in PVC registration activity. Whether you like it or not, the youth have been on the receiving end, so we are also standing with them. Students at universities today have missed four months of classes. Furthermore, youth unemployment is very high, and they essentially bear the brunt of this.

We are therefore attempting to rekindle the conversation on how to improve Nigeria, but we cannot do so by ourselves without the support of others. Abraham Lincoln famously stated that democracy is "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Three times in the definition of democracy, "people" was used. That is why we are supporting a party that also values people as being the most important thing.

Only the Labour Party has a family with a father, mother, and child as their logo. Others possess objects and other things.

Why not LP if some NLC members are running on the platforms of other parties?

The parties are merely platforms, as I've already made clear to you. The good, the bad, and the ugly are present at every party. I offer an example of an ugly individual who after losing primaries of four parties gained a ticket of Labour Party through the backdoor. So, rather than the party, we are gazing at the person's face. Be not fooled. Workers won't be misled if they solely look at a party's platform. Even in the Labour Party, we will declare that a poor candidate is a poor product and that we will not vote for him.

Do you not care that they will attend other events?

They could attend other events. What's wrong with that, exactly? We'll back you if you utilize any other site if you're not given a forum here to practice your political rights. We'll support you in accordance with your credentials, history, accomplishments, and manifesto.

Why can't the NLC investigate candidates running on the Labour Party's platform to ensure that they won't damage the party's reputation since the party is designed to represent workers?

There are two problems, and you shouldn't mix up the structures of the Labour Party and the NLC. The NLC registered the Labour Party, which is a party supported by the NLC and working people, but we don't micromanage the party. Therefore, if the party made mistakes without knowing someone's background information and a ticket was mistakenly issued to someone, like in the instance of Adamawa, we should be able to say so plainly, but NLC won't step in and micromanage the party.

A political party must adhere to certain regulations. There is an executive, chairman, secretary, etc. for the party. The executive includes some union officials, but we cannot step in and micromanage. We cannot possibly be aware of what the party is doing at any given moment.

NLC and TUC are formally members of the party's Central Working Committee and National Executive Council. We have members who are present, including our representatives, as required by law and statutorily. As a result of its large size (774 local governments, 36 states), we are unable to supervise or know everyone's identification, but they will be able to make corrections as needed.