Olusegun Obasanjo has said his decision to reform Nigeria’s labour movement while in office was driven by concerns that organised labour had become a proxy battleground for foreign interests, undermining the country’s sovereignty.
Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday at the 85th birthday celebration and book presentation in honour of Hassan Summonu, a former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Obasanjo recalled a period when the country’s labour movement was deeply fragmented and shaped by Cold War rivalries.
According to the former president, Nigeria then had two dominant labour centres, both operating under significant foreign influence. One, he alleged, was funded by the Soviet-era KGB, while the other received backing from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency.
“These were Nigerian labour organisations, but they were not being financed or funded by Nigeria,” Obasanjo told the audience. “That was the reality. One was being financed by the KGB, and the other was being financed by the CIA.”
Obasanjo said the situation was intolerable for a sovereign state and convinced him that Nigeria needed a labour union that was “organised by Nigeria, controlled by Nigeria and financed by Nigeria”. That conviction, he said, led to sweeping reforms aimed at unifying organised labour under a single national structure.
He explained that Justice Adebiyi was appointed to oversee the process, which ultimately resulted in the creation of the NLC as a unified labour body. Crucially, Obasanjo added, the reforms were designed to keep government at arm’s length from labour leadership, allowing workers themselves to elect their representatives.
“I don’t know anything about labour,” he said, recalling resistance to the reforms at the time. “But I knew what I wanted – a Nigerian labour organisation organised by Nigerians, headed by Nigerians and funded by Nigerians. Justice Adebiyi finished his job, and we reformed labour without government’s hand. They elected their leader, and Hassan became the first.”
Obasanjo said the reforms helped establish a more structured and constructive relationship between organised labour and the state, while preserving the union’s independence. He praised Summonu for his role in consolidating labour leadership in Nigeria and extending its influence across Africa and the global labour movement.
The former president also revealed that he wrote the foreword to Summonu’s newly launched book, saying he offered a candid account of the labour leader’s contribution to national development and democratic engagement.
The event doubled as a forum for contemporary labour debates, particularly over Nigeria’s recently enacted tax laws. Responding to earlier remarks by the current NLC president, Joe Ajaero, who criticised the impact of the new taxes on workers, a former NLC leader and now senator, Adams Oshiomhole, urged labour to move beyond lamentation and confront policies it considers unjust.
“You were agonising,” Oshiomhole told Ajaero. “If it is wrong, fight it. Don’t admit it.” He argued that those who benefit from unjust systems rarely give them up voluntarily and must be challenged through organised resistance.
Bringing together labour leaders past and present, politicians and civil society actors, the gathering underlined the enduring political weight of organised labour in Nigeria, even as debates continue over workers’ rights, taxation and the role of unions in governance.
