It is becoming worrisome the level at which workers’ strikes happen in Nigeria. What the strikes are meant for is obvious. But why is strike the only measure to make government listen? Often, ultimatums jump out of the dailies, and then the strikes begin without looking at the larger picture. The larger picture referred to here is the masses. It is almost certain that these Unions get into this mode one after another thereby halting the country.
Now, the questions are; is it only the responsibility of government to safeguard the day to day running of the economy of a nation? Or are Experts’ Unions becoming pseudo-Political Parties? Governor Adams Oshiomole’s case is a good reference point (He transited from a very active, almost anti- government labour leader to being a politician).
If this reference point suffices, then it is time the nation began to make a proper assessment on what and where the people’s power to bring government to answer to questions lay. Instead of relying on group of experts’ unions who are masquerading as the saviors of the nation but in the real sense, they are just bunch of orchestrated Areaboys asking the government for their share of the loot. The Politicians are the ‘devils’ known to us but what about these ‘saints’ we are yet to know... I smell a rat.
If you have read Wole Soyinka’s (WS) “Beatification of Areaboy”, you would understand what the experts’ unions across the globe especially the one from within Nigeria are doing to retard Nigeria’s growth. But in case you have not, we shall clinically go through situations that would describe the experts’ area-boys attitude in the making or marring of the Nigeria nation.
Area-boys are the popular streets’ urchins you find in every cosmopolitan city in the world. They are a character of socio-cultural failure; a product of societal weakness merged with economical woes, such as most developing nations or continents are reeling in now. They are a barometer of a sort for every society they exist in. The level at which they operate and go scot-free and continuously so, go a long way to tell the laxity in security and execution of law, if any, in such country. They represent the face of failure in every society.
However, they could be put to use by the rich or intellectuals in the society, especially when such people have ulterior motive. All these depend on understanding their language of acceptance – money or power. Of course, they get the power for you, you buy it with money. If well organized, they could grow to become a powerful group of outstanding networks just like the Boko-haram group, the Al-queada, and every other militia groups across the globe.
In the case of WS’s play – Beatification of Area-boy; it is Sanda, a university dropout who feels so aggrieved of his society that took to putting to use these street urchins. Sanda is a security man at the plaza, yet oversees the running of a parking lot. The area-boys give receipt to willing vehicle owners or drivers who come to park in their parking lot. They expect some specified token in return. These monies go to Sanya. But what is fascinating about their operation is that every driver or owner of vehicles who come to park in this parking lot is a potential customer to be defrauded by these area-boys.
These area-boys have two or three different groups who will come in turn to give receipt to the same vehicle and they expect you to pay them, and when you make to argue it, they are ready to fight and beat you up then impound your vehicle. Yet you cannot move your vehicle except you pay. This scenario I am sure will be familiar to most Nigerians by now. This orchestration to some degree, negatively though, has some level of cohesiveness. At least they are providing the services; keeping the parking lot intact, defending its parameters, sure security for vehicles, securing the space with land allocation institution even if it means sharing their profit with the government agency responsible for allocating lands every month. The point is, they work at it. In some cases they even commit their lives to it.
Most garage touts fall into these area-boys category. So they form the bulk of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). Anytime they venture into strike mode for whatever reason, the union will always provide some lee-way out for the masses. Is either they make it half day or they never go beyond a week. Even when there are fuel shortages in the country, they are always committed to serving the masses. Though some of us refer to them as never-do-well of the society, but in so many cases, they are always very creative at making their demands even from government. They also know when to back off. The NURTW successfully went into agreement with the government of Babatunde Fashola in Lagos state when they knew it was the wise thing to do. Lagosians were surprised at the solemn marriage between ‘Areaboys’ and the Government. The relationship which eventually produced the Bus Rapid Transport popularly known as BRT. The masses are the one enjoying the fruit of that relationship today. That is the way a country works; Ability to engage ourselves constructively and be the better for it.
No country will work under the “wrong, you must die and win, I control” posture most of these Experts’ unions take. All these unions have perfected the act of holding government to ransom while the country suffers. Or how do we explain the situation where a union asks for everything yet they never give anything in return except for basking in the euphoria of once-upon-a-time. The one that horrifies most is when these unions begin to compare themselves with their contemporary in the west. They forget that in the west, things are done according to lay down rules. Government will not have to come after you before you contribute your bit to the economy.
These unions are quick to say the government is bad, YES, but no government everywhere in the world is good. The professionals in my view are responsible for each segment as they make-up a country. So, whichever section is failing, the blame rests square on both the government and most particularly the professionals in that section. To push all failures in a society on government is as equal as saying rulers drop from heaven. But believe me, rulers are born.
Makinde Adeniran
