The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) plans to re-launch its Labour College Endowment Fund as part of activities marking its 40-year anniversary, Mr Peters Adeyemi, the Chairman, Organising Committee, has said.
Adeyemi made this known at a news conference on the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the congress on Thursday in Abuja.
The NLC was founded on Feb. 28, 1978.
Adeyemi explained that the re-launch of the fund had become imperative due to the determination to have fullfledged labour college that would serve the congress and its affiliates.
“It would be recalled that in the early 1990s, the NLC leadership failed to convince the military regime to hand over the Michael Imoudu Institute of Labour Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State, to the NLC to manage exclusively.
“The Bafyau leadership of the congress therefore, launched a Labour College Endowment Fund at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. We raised more than N10 million then and put it in a fixed deposit.
“This amount which is at today’s value over N400 million, was one of the causalities of late General Sani Abacha’s sole administratorship of the NLC, as it was withdrawn and squandered.”
The organising committee chairman also said that the objective of the anniversary was to celebrate 40 years of struggle and perseverance as a working class.
He said that the anniversary would also create an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the NLC and the larger labour movement and identify ways of addressing these challenges.
Adeyemi added that the celebration would articulate an agenda for the congress in the next 10 years in its forward march to Golden Jubilee.
Reflecting on the journey so far, he said that the Congress had encountered a number of challenges, citing battles with the government and other employers.
According to him, the NLC had won some memorable victories for Nigerian workers in particular, and the masses generally.
“Reaching our first 40 years is therefore an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the decades of struggle.
“The impediments, the successes and to outline the immediate and medium-term challenges facing our government as we march towards the golden jubilee of this congress in another 10 years.”
He also said that the anniversary would be marked throughout the 36 states of the federation and the FCT with public lectures, Muslim and Christian prayers, novelty football matches, cultural/Gala and award nights.
Adeyemi also said that the anniversary lectures would be delivered by Prof. Attahiru Jega, a former INEC Chairman, and Prof. Toye Olorode, an intellectual, both Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) stalwarts.
The theme of the lecture is “NLC, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’’.
Furthermore, he said that Mr Guy Ryder, the Director-General, International Labour Organisation (ILO), would also deliver a lecture on the “Future World of Work’’ from the ILO headquarters in Geneva.
He added that the anniversary would provide the opportunity to reflect on “our struggle, our travails and our triumphs; we have a long history to reflect on.”
