How Obi failed to stop the Anambra workers' strike - Ex-Chairman of the NLC

The Chairman of the Pensioners Union of Nigeria, Anambra State Chapter, and former State Chairman of the Nigeria Labor Congress, Dr. Anthony Chukwuemeka, interviews IKENNA OBIANERI about the plight of workers and retirees in the country

Who is Dr. Anthony Chukwuemeka?

I am currently the Chairman of Anambra State Pensioners Union of Nigeria. I was the State President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers. I was also the State President of the Nigeria Labor Congress and when I retired I was elected President of the NUP. I was the Regional Chairman of NUT in former Anambra State and former Eastern Region which included Rivers and Bayelsa States. At the time, it was called the Eastern Regional Working Committee. When the Osun State Chapter experienced a crisis, I was enlisted.

When was that?

That was in 2008 and since then there have been no issues with the NLC in that state. No more conflict. I was chairman of the interim committee for a year and three months. I was sent there to organize them and inaugurated the committee of elders.

When did you retire?

I retired as a teacher in 2011. I started attending the retiree meeting and when they saw my pedigree and what I can offer they decided to nominate me as president. I became president in 2016. The former president and the secretary mysteriously died in the same month. At first, I suffered terrible challenges, I had to visit some states to gain experience on how to handle retiree affairs, and finally, God gave us wisdom.

Since becoming the President of the State Retirees Union, what challenges have you faced as a body and how have they been overcome?

There are so many challenges. First, our operational base is a rented place and we have been paying rent for a long time, but during my stewardship, the syndicate acquired a plot of land of about four hectares in Awka. We designed the perspectives of the secretariat. We also had serious challenges regarding unpaid tips and the problem started with the immediate previous administration of Willie Obiano. When he started to owe gratuities, we wrote to him. We tried to reach him, but it was not easy to reach him because he continued to owe gratuities to local government and state pensioners until five years after his departure.

Although the administration of a former governor, Peter Obi, also encountered arrears of around 16 months, which were carried over from the administration of another former governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju , and by the time Peter Obi was leaving he had erased some of them, only staying 11 months and he told Obiano to continue where he left off and the Joint Action Committee was asked to take action to this subject. But there were rumors that the JAC received the money, but did not pay the beneficiaries. Local government retirees receive gratuities from the state government.

The administration of Obiano owed us arrears and left, but we met with the current governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, regarding the problems of all pensioners in the state, and the matter is now before the House of Assembly. We met with the lawmakers twice and they also invited the relevant ministry, but the ministry officials refused to honor the invitation. Since they failed to show up twice they were invited, the House committee wrote again, warning that if they do not show up at the next meeting, it will use all powers at its disposal to solve the problem.

Why do you think the ministry didn't honor the invitation?

Well, they have their reason. I won't give a reason. It is up to them to state the reasons why they did not come. What is impressive is that the governor said that under his leadership, he should not retire. On the issue of gratuities owed by former administrations, he has decided to keep money aside every month and when it reaches 300 million naira, he will divide and share it among those owed to him. It will use 150 million naira to pay state pensioners and the other 150 million naira for local government pensioners, and it has started to do so. It's a way of gradually liquidating arrears and it's very impressive.

How far did the case reach the National Assembly?

We petitioned the Assembly and they invited us and we gave them documents. The Ministry of Local Authorities and Chieftaincy Titles, which supervises the JAC, was invited. Although this is not the problem of the current crop of officers in the ministry, since the...