A’Ibom NLC ends Youth Summit, End of Year Thanksgiving Service

Emmanuel Atteh, Anthony Ukpong

Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has ended a one-day training summit organised for the youth committee members of NLC with a call on young workers to brace up and be prepared to take over leadership from the elders of the labour union.

Speakers at the event bared their minds while addressing members of the NLC Youth Committee numbering over a hundred, during the 4th Youth Summit which took place at Workers Solidarity Centre, Atan Offot, Uyo recently.

Declaring the event open, the Head of Civil Service of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Effiong Essien said the future of the labour movement lies in the hands of the youths; and urged the youths to see the need to take advantage of the training to equip themselves and improve on their performances.

Essien, who was represented by Mr Solomon Peter, a deputy director of administration in his office, added that the Akwa Ibom State Government, under Governor Umoh Eno, was poised to reposition the youths of the state through training on different areas of human endeavours, especially on the security of the communities in the state.

He hinted that about 500 youths have already been trained by the present administration, selected one per unit in the state on the Ibom Community Watch Programme of Umoh Eno, while other youths were trained on entrepreneurial development, under the Ibom LED programme.

Essien urged the NLC youths to demonstrate capacity in leadership after the summit and to remain committed to supporting the leadership of the labour movement in the state with all amounts of maturity with a view to taking the movement to the next level.

In his welcome remarks at the summit, the chairperson of Nigeria Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State Council, Mr Sunny James, welcomed dignitaries and all attendees of the event to the workers’ solidarity centre and thanked them for honouring his invitation to the event, especially the head of civil service and the commissioner for Labour and Manpower Planning, Elder Aniefiok Nkom, who was represented by the assistant director of Information, Comrade Ephraim Okpongette.

He said the training became necessary, in line with the tenets and ideals of the National Labour Centre, as it was part of the end-of-year programmes of the foremost labour centre in the country, which according to him was meant to broaden the knowledge of the youths on labour related issues and to further prepare them ahead of future leadership of the movement, if the rights of Nigerian workers must be given.

The number one labour leader acknowledged the roles played by the youth committee of NLC whenever there is a labour struggle right from 2012, when they lost two vibrant youths to death, during an accident which occurred at Atiku Abubakar flyover bridge and said he cannot take it for granted, while pledging on behalf of the state council of NLC to develop the youths more, through regular trainings.

Earlier in his welcome address, the chairman NLC Youth Caretaker Committee, Comrade Peter Sunday Akpan, said he was happy to welcome guests, union leaders, women committee members and the youths present at the event, on behalf of his committee, stressing that the role of the youths regarding the successes of the labour movement cannot be overemphasised.

Akpan, who went memory lane, acknowledged with thanks the roles of their forebears in ensuring that the Akwa Ibom State Council of NLC was the first in the country to recognise and also inaugurate the youth committee, to complement the role played by the women committee to strengthen the labour movement during struggles and promised to galvanized more supports in the nearest future.

He appreciated in particular the pioneering role of the Late Comrade Unyieme David Usoro, who inaugurated the youth committee of NLC in 2015, with Comrade Joseph Etim John as the pioneer youth president in Akwa Ibom State.

The youth committee chairman equally thanked Comrade James led administration, for making the youths their priority and for ensuring that they were trained to know the rudiments of labour engagements with their employers, which according to him, will guarantee industrial peace in the state.

The youth training summit which had as its theme, “Developing Young Workers on Dynamics of Trade Union and Conflict Management in the Changing World of Work”, also featured a keynote address on the theme of the event, presented by Professor Aniekan Brown, a Professor in the Department of Criminology, University of Uyo, lecture presentation by the immediate past vice chairperson of NLC in Akwa Ibom State and lecturer in the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, Ikot Osurua, Comrade Iboro Ibara and Comrade Gabriel Ekpa, a resource person of NLC who also lectured the youths during the event.

The youth summit ushered in the End of Year Interdenominational Thanksgiving Service the following day, which was at the instance of Nigeria Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State Council, as the state chairperson, Comrade Sunny James led members of the State Administrative Council, State Executive Council members of NLC,  Joint Public Service Negotiating Council members, members of the National Association of Labour Veterans (NALVET), NLC Women Committee, the Youth Committee and Labour Leaders Wives Association (LALWA) in thanking God for a successful service year and prayed for the grace to see the new service year, 2024.

Comrade James also used the opportunity to appreciate the State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, for making good his promise to labour during his electioneering campaign, for the release of over N6bn so far to settle the backlog of arrears of gratuity payments to retired workers and described it as a no mean feat.

He also thanked the governor for his magnanimity in approving payments of basic salary to workers in the state, as a Christmas bonus that is christened, “Eno Mber” and however, expressed hope that in the coming days or weeks, the governor will expedite action towards payment of N35,000.00 wage award to Akwa Ibom workers, as directed by the Federal Government led by President Bola Tinubu, GCFR.

Highpoint of the event was the official inauguration of a new executive led by Comrade Asukwo Akang, to pilot the affairs of the National Association of Labour Veterans (NALVET), which was jointly performed by the chairperson of NLC, Comrade Sunny James and his TUC counterpart, Comrade Dominic Abang.