Baba Aye's

As Nigeria commemorated its 65th Independence Day anniversary, I spoke with Ejikeme Omenazu of the Independent newspapers on several issues dwelling on the history and current situation of Nigeria, ranging from how far the country has fared, to the Civil War, the so-called indivisibilty of Nigeria, the non-difference-difference, if I may of the different sections of the local ruling class, the travails of Omoyele Sowore and Aliko Dangote's union bursting antics.  It is now 65 years after Nigeria's independence; how has the country fared so far? It depends on the question of which class you are talking about. Nigeria has fared badly for working-class people. At independence, workers, poor farmers and the urban poor were not as badly off as they are now. Hunger and insecurity did not stalk the land. They yearned for things to be better. They had high hopes that with independence, their lives would become better still. But it did not take them long to see that this was not goin...

Introduction Trades unions have become key components of most modern societies be such societies democratic or totalitarian, advanced capitalist or backward post-colonial. The nature of trade unions and trade unionisms are however quite different, even in otherwise similar societies. The United Kingdom and the United States for example could be considered as similar as societies could be (being the leading “liberal market economies” in the world), but they have quite different types of trade unions and approaches to trades unionism. Similarly France and Germany, two leading “coordinated market economies” in the West, have clearly different trades unions’ characteristics. Coming closer home; on one hand there are distinct traits that mark the industrial relations systems and trade union practice as heritages of our colonial past i.e. along English-speaking and French-speaking Africa lines. On the other hand, there are specific features of trade unionism and trades unions even in the cl...