OBVIOUSLY all the deaths on the Abuja-Kaduna train are a terrible loss. Loosing Musa Lawal, the General Secretary of the TUC, the Chair of Kwara State TUC and the young doctor, Chinelo Nwando, with her life ahead of her, is a devastating blow. Socialist Labour also mourns the deaths of the two cleaners and workers, Loretta and Abdul, and the others who died during the attack.
We need to be clear that nobody was born a criminal or terrorist. Criminals and terrorists are essentially, and in the main, products of our unjust society. They are people pushed into committing illegal acts. The only enduring solution lies in policies that move towards far more equal societies. There is enough wealth in society to satisfy everyone’s needs, but not the greed of the few.
But we need to be clear about the causes and possible solutions to avoid more such tragedies in future.
Merely calling the people who carried out the attack “terrorists” and asking for more resolute action by the security forces will not solve the root causes of insecurity. Until these are addressed we will all continue to suffer burglaries, theft, kidnapping and worse.
The people of Kaduna State have suffered wave after wave of retrenchments over the last 20 years. The textile mills employed tens of thousands, but are now gone. Their workers lost their jobs, in many cases without being paid their entitlements – even where the factories were owned by the state governments.
Then the state also inflicted retrenchments including tens of thousands of teachers in 2017 and more recently.
Young people in Kaduna State are suffering fantastic levels of unemployment and they all know family members who have been retrenched or pensioners who have not been paid their gratuities. They can also see the wealth of Kaduna represented by the outrageous convoys that transport top politicians, military officials and others.
It is not surprising that a few turn to crime, and worse, when they know so many of the rich gained their wealth from corruption.
We need to be clear that nobody was born a criminal or terrorist. Criminals and terrorists are essentially, and in the main, products of our unjust society. They are people pushed into committing illegal acts. The only enduring solution lies in policies that move towards far more equal societies. There is enough wealth in society to satisfy everyone’s needs, but not the greed of the few.
The loss of one of our better trade union leaders must make us redouble our efforts to ensure that the trade unions are more successful in future.
If we want to stop such unfortunate events repeating in the future, we have to ensure that trade union action is successful, this needs maximum unity, solidarity and active strikes. If all states paid a reasonable minimum wage and paid their pensioners their full entitlements that would be a start. It would give young people hope for their future and begin the end of the temptations of get rich quick, criminality, kidnapping and worse.
The three day strike in Kaduna last May was successful in that el-Rufai was frightened. He then stopped further retrenchments and paid entitlements for teachers whose jobs he took from them four years previously. The active strike with daily mass protests made a difference, but it was not enough. There are thousands of pensioners in the state who have yet to receive their gratuities.
The Kaduna strike was important as it showed a way forward. United action of all trade unionists with direct and public support from the national NLC. Wabba himself led the daily protests despite threats that he would be arrested.
If we want to stop such unfortunate events repeating in the future, we have to ensure that trade union action is successful, this needs maximum unity, solidarity and active strikes. If all states paid a reasonable minimum wage and paid their pensioners their full entitlements that would be a start. It would give young people hope for their future and begin the end of the temptations of get rich quick, criminality, kidnapping and worse.
We want to express our profound condolences to all members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for the grievous loss of their General Secretary. It is also our wish to comfort the families and friends of all other affected Nigerians while praying for quick recovery of Mrs Lawal (traveling with her husband) and others undergoing treatment over wounds sustained and psychological imbalance in the course of this attack.
Socialist Labour is aware of the role that Comrade Musa Lawal played in the ongoing process of labour politics. He provided a political voice that could provide an alternative to the ruinous capitalist ruling class that is taking the working people for granted. The best way to mourn him and his colleague is to translate his dream in this regard in to political reality come the general elections in 2023.
Comrade Olamosu is National Secretary, Socialist Labour, https://socialistlabour.com.ng
