BOS, organized labour and 2023

• Published date: 21 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

In the run up to what is shaping up to be the most consequential and momentous elections at national and state levels in February and March this year since 1999, organized labour in Lagos State, in an unprecedented move, recently declared its open support for the re-election of governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for a second term in office. At a mega endorsement rally organized by labour unions in the state, teeming members of the Lagos State chapters of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria ((ASCSN), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the association of herbal medicine dealers, declared and demonstrated their support not just for the candidacy of Sanwo-Olu but also the presidential aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Was this a needless politicization of organized labour and an adventure into baseless and unjustifiable partisanship? Nobody who rationally considers the reasons articulated by the labour unions can credibly reach such a conclusion. The labour leaders gave concrete and verifiable justifications for their action.

Stressing that the labour movement could not sit on the fence in an election in which Sanwo-Olu, whom she described as the most 'labour-friendly' governor was contesting, the NLC Chairman in Lagos State, Comrade Agnes Funmilayo Sessi, said the decision to unanimously support his re-election was predicated on Sanwo-Olu's fulfillment of his promises to the movement. In her words, 'Before we embarked on this rally, we all agreed at our respective congresses to support Sanwo-Olu to continue as our Governor. We made the decision before today but we only came out to display our solidarity with him publicly. What we have done right in our house, we are showing to the world. This is the first time the Organized Labour in Lagos is taking an open position to endorse the candidate of a political party. We are doing this because Sanwo-Olu has introduced unprecedented reforms to improve the welfare and the well-being of workers. We are coming out with our full chest to support the Governor. We are deciding our fate by being part of the electorate that will return the most labour-friendly governor. This is the decision all workers agreed upon and there...