From Noah Ebije, Kaduna

As the world marked workers day on May 1st, 2024, the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) have lamented the moribund state of textile factories in the country.

Addressing newsmen as part of activities lined up to celebrate the event, the National President of NUTWGN, Comrade Peters Godonu regretted that many of the textile factories  that were closed down over the years have been turned to worship centres by some individuals in the society.

Comrade Godonu however expressed optimism that if President Bola Tinubu lived up to his promise to industrialise the nation, the textile factories would bounce back to boost the nation’s socio-economic development.

“But most of our factories are closed, some have turned to churches and mosques, but we believe that if the president carries out his plans of industrialization, which is more dear to us, and works on it, we believe that the sector will change for the better.

“As we all know, the theme for this year’s workers day is People first and what do we mean by people first, in the process of production, labour is number one. So we need to put the people first and that is the message we are trying to convey to the people.

“A lot of things that we are experiencing, people need a lot of relief, but is government looking at that direction, are we getting any relief?  With the situation we are in, the economic crisis and all that, definitely, we need to put the people first.

“Whatever the plan of the government is, they should also put plan for the masses, knowing well that we require a relief and that is the message.

“As the textile, we just finished our delegate conference some days ago, and it calls for celebration because it is a conference where we unite to make decisions. For us it is a good thing, to say we did not fight ourselves, we did not go and return as enemies and that shows that we practice oneness and that is a cause to celebrate.

“One thing to consider is that we have life. We all have challenges to talk about, but one thing to note is that we are still alive. That is why we are talking of libration, comfort, that is why we are reminding the government about what they need to do for us.

“Those who have passed on, when you talk of challenges, economic hardship, they don’t know anything but we still have  life and that is our hope to say that we can still come out of these challenges.

“We all know that in any situation we find ourselves in, there’s always a challenge. There’s no situation or time that anybody will say no challenge existed but that is why we are there as leaders, to let you know that if there are issues, we can dialogue with our employers and settle.

“We are going to make sure that we do things to ensure that nothing is messed up in our constituency. What I mean is that, the purpose of being a union should not be amiss, we don’t need to compromise. We should know that yes, the rights of our members is very dear to us.

“We also need to keep their hope alive. to let them know that anything that is wrong, we can sit down and discuss to find a way out. So when we create an environment for dialogue, it is just to improve the workers’ condition.

“The creation of a dialogue is an avenue to say that something greater is about to happen. It is when you talk to your employer and he says, I don’t have time for you, that is when you remain stagnant but in this union, both the employer and employee have the zeal to meet and talk which is what is keeping the union.

“Once we meet, something new is given birth to. It shows that the workers believe in the leadership that once the leader is approached, hope is restored.

“The main instrument of unionism is dialogue. We can talk of strike and all, but the main instrument in the process of unionisn is dialogue. When I talk to you and you refuse to listen, then we take strike action but I think a better way is to dialogue.

“So once we talk, whatever comes from the dialogue will be profitable to the workers and that is what we believe in”.

Speaking on the issue of minimum wage promised by the federal government, Comrade Godonu said, “I believe that by the time we get to the conclusion, the minimum wage will not remain the same, I have that assurance but the amount is what I don’t know.

“We have made a proposal through our union to say that N650,000.00 is the proposal from us but you know in the process of agreement, there’s room for dialogue. Government will also come up with a proposal, it is at the end of the day, we also need to agree but what we know is that, in the issue of salary increase, there’s something for us at the end of the day.

“A committee has been set up to look into the issue and I’m sure that when they are done, they will come up with a figure which will be announced to the nation.

“The governor of Edo State announced a minimum wage of N70,000.00 which is labour friendly and he went on to say that if government comes up with any figure, we’ll do more. Comrade Adam Oshiomole also did it when he was the governor, when minimum wage was N18,000.00, he was paying N25,000.00 because they understood the constituency they came from. Ordinarily, being the governor, they know what is good for the people and they did it out of passion. So those are the things we are expecting especially from the federal government.

“I know that the idea of the government for increment is to arrest the issue at hand. We all know the situation of the country that it is not palatable for us. So even in our sector, when wage increase was announced, we met with our employers and negotiated for our people and it’s a relief but that does not mean that we will not implement if an amount is announced.

“The committee is still working, they have not come up with their report, it is when they present it that we will present what we have but the increment is mainly to arrest the situation on ground, to let the people know that the government mean what they say. So when the committee announce their report, everybody will follow as an order including the civil service”.