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NLC Deputy President, ADEWALE ADEYANJU
Comrade Adewale Adeyanju is truly a remarkable gentleman. He is the President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, and the Deputy President of the Nigerian Labour Congress ( NLC). He is also the Chairman African Region of International transport Federation(ITF) . But despite all these enviable positions he occupies , Comrade Adewale Adeyanju remains one of the most humble personalities you can possibly ever come across.
Stepping inside his impressive yet modestly furnished office, you immediately get the impression you’re meeting a calm and collected individual who knows his onions. He does not intimidate with his office. He tells you it’s okay to sit down and greet him even if you are way younger to him in age. That is how simple and unassuming this gentle man is. He is also an extremely intelligent man. Very articulate. He picks his words carefully when he speaks. Because of the immense influence held by the positions he occupies, Comrade Adewale Adeyanju guides against making unguarded statements. He understands clearly the sensitive nature of his office. This is one of the reasons why he has been able to command a great deal of respect amongst his contemporaries and the union as a whole. They love his personality and admire his style of leadership. Above and beyond all these , they appreciate his sense of integrity and strength of character. Comrade Adeyanju is a leader whose courage and integrity you can vouch for anyday, anytime, which explains why he was re elected into office unopposed for a second tenure. His impeccable character is also one of the reasons why City People honoured him with an award for Excellence at the recent City People Excellence Award held at the Lagos Country Club.
Last week, the duo of City People Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) and RONKE FAKEYE( 08053912959) spent quality time engaging this outstanding gentleman and got him to share with us his background and rise to the pinnacle of his profession. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.
To begin with sir, how do you cope with all of the massive positions you occupy and what are your primary duties?
To be a leader is to be ready to serve. If you’re not a grassroot person, you can’t be the President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria. We have four branches of the Maritime Workers Union, they are the Nigerian Port Authority, The Seafarers, The Dockworkers and the shipping. So, invariably I have about four wives that I am managing and all of them have their own peculiarities , characters and so as a leader , you must be able to acquint yourself with their decisions, connect with them properly, know their problems and if you don’t solve it well, you’re on your own. You must not disconnect from them, you must be able to connect with them everytime. These are the responsibilities as a leader. Every union leader ‘s primary responsibility is to protect the welfare of the workers and people you’re leading and including the management. The four branches equally have their own executives. They have President and Executives and they all fall under my Command here. My role is to supervise and make sure we follow the policy of the Union that has joined all of us together. Each branch has their own area of operations. If you’re a seafearer, you tell us your area of challenges, and if you are a Dockworker ( laughs) I won’t use any funny language here, I was from there and I know the way we used to behave in those days and the way we are now. In those days, it was crises upon crises, violence upon violence which was the order of the day but under our Command, we decided to make things change and work , and so we changed the orientation and now they behave as reasonable people.This is part of the things that made me to be here today.
I want to thank City People for this wonderful honour and on behalf of my Union. When I was nominated, I said to myself that I am not an entertainer ( laughs) because I know City People for that, but on the day the award held, I was out of the country which I sent representatives. I want to give respect to the Publisher , thank you for remembering the poor labourers like us. Because we know City People is for the big wigs in the society but when you now remember workers like us, I think we should applaud you for doing that. We appreciate this on behalf of the Union. Our union is not a small union and if they are counting unions in Nigeria today, if our union is not number two definitely it will be number three. In terms of economic situations we hold, today after Oil in Nigeria, its the Port and that is the gateway to Nigerian economy. And then we can’t just wake up one day and shut down the Port, like other unions used to do, and that is why we weigh out options. The moment we shut down the Port for a day, we know the millions of naira government ,stakeholders and management will lose and that is why we work hand in hand with our management and workers at the Port.
How many years have you been in office and how have you been able to settle down and deal with the many challenges you met on ground?
The beauty of this is that I started from the scratch as a Docker myself. When you know what you are doing and God now elevates you, then it will be very easy to manage the affairs. I was elected as National Treasurer and from there to be the President of Dockworkers, from there I found myself here. It’s not easy and not a bread and butter affair to be the President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria because the challenges are so enormous and you must have to face the challenges, have the experience to be able to connect with all your executives. So when people see us and say we have money, we are not getting any money, we are only trying to protect the economy .
How will you describe the conditions of the Maritime Workers? Has the government really shown empathy to the plight of Maritime Workers?
An average worker in the world not even in Maritime sector alone are Oliver twist. We all want more. Over the years we have issues of workers not well remunerated. Their conditions of service was not improved but when we came on board, there were lots of improvement on the welfare package to shipping. to Dockworkers, to Seafearers and others. I can’t speak for the government but the most important thing is to play your part and leave the rest for others. I also picked this administration from someone. I’m yet to be satisfied until I see the person coming after me improve upon what I have done and even do more as a Policy. The prayer of any good leader is to have a good successor, someone who can build on what you’ve laid as a principle and as a policy that has given you the opportunity to serve as the President General of Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria. If I tell you it’s well in some areas, I am lying all is still not well. There are some bad employers of labour who do not even want to take care of workers and there are some good ones who reward their workers and pay them as at when due, and there are some that its until you make noise before they do what is needed of them. The workers in Maritime sector have contributed immensely to recruitment in this country and then we need to be encouraged and remunurated properly. Though they are doing it but we are not there yet. both the dead and the living cannot be satisfied ( laughs) but we will try our best even though it might not be enough in the eye of those we are leading because every worker wants more. If you tell them to take one hundred percent, they still want you to add two percent to it. These are the things union leaders must be prepared for.
While we are still on the subject of workers satisfaction in terms of remuneration, presently, the NLC and the federal government are at logger heads over the minimum wage. It’s been going on for a while. How realistic do you think the minimum wage demand is? Government is pushing for one hundred thousand naira. Do you think the matter is any close to being resolved as we speak?
I’m just hearing the one hundred thousand naira figure . All I know is that what NLC is pushing is Six hundred and fifteen thousand naira. A bag of rice is close to hundred thousand naira. Can you manage forty eight thousand to feed an entire family? The government is not ready and that is why our position still remains where we are on this minimum wage. The figure we placed before them is what Trade Union Congress ( TUC) and NLC is pushing also. So it’s not about one hundred thousand naira, what will that do to an average family of four, five or six and still have dependants to take care of? I’m sure the next meeting is to call us and probably add another two thousand naira to make it fifty thousand naira. I discussed with some of our leaders and I said these people are not ready, until when the workers are forced to do what we have buried in the past. It’s not about giving Ultimatum but it’s about sacrifice. If we say all is well with everyone, I can tell you authoritatively that all isn’t well. Even the rich have started crying talkless of the poor. The rich are passing through hell. If the rich cannot afford to use three or four cars that they normally use, then what happens to an average poor worker? Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress ( TUC) are prepared for this struggle of survival, struggle of empty stomach. A philosopher once said, one cannot survive on empty stomach and that is what is happening in Nigeria now. We don’t have any other country we can run to but we need a very good minimum wage for average workers in this country. Things have really gone from bad to worse. We are pushing forward a better package and the NLC and TUC , we are all together on this because injury to one is injury to all.
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