r
A Weekly Digest Of
African Affairs
SATr, JULY 28, 18&
NIGERIA
Shagari Faces
Labor Unrest
AN A tenuous com
promise last April between
Nigeria's political and
labor leaders forestalled
the threat of a crippling
nation-wide strike, but
tensions have remained
high.
Labor leaders had
presented an ultimatum to
Federal and State govern
ments, which, expired
March 31. Although the
general strike was averted,
the atmosphere of uncer
tainly created by the threat
has remained. Nigerians
are sensitive about the
failures of previous
civilian governments, and
any actions perceived as
jeopardizing stability easi
ly cause apprehension.
"The politicians are
now frightened that the
labor movement could
undermine their authori
ty," notes Umoh James
Umoh in African
Business.
The labor demands
were presented earlier this
year by the Nigeria
Labour Congress,
representing 42 industrial
unions with organized
membership of about
three million workers. The
NLC proposals included
demands that the
minimum wage be raised
to N300 ($180) per month
a level that NLC Presi
dent Hassan Adebayc
Sunmonu claims
nonetheless would leave
many Nigerians living at
the poverty level and
that housing and transpor
tation supplements be
restored, along with other
benefits.
The concession to NLC
demands was a temporary
one, in the unions' viev .
Shagari fulfilled an elec
toral promise to increase
the minimum wage to
N100 ($36), and agreed to
set up a tripartite commit- j
tee of government, in
dustry and tabor represen
tatives to xnynsider a larger
increase. He also gave in
to labor on some of the
benefits issues, promising
that housing and transport
costs will be underwritten
by supplementary
payments on a sliding
scale. And, in a further
liberalization of the wage
freeze policy, limited col
lective bargaining will be
restored, with ceiling?
predetermined for ' wage?
and benefits.
Worker pressure for in
creased wages and benefits
had been expected.
Nigerian workers have
been held to a pay freeze
since 1976, while infla
tion, slowed to a current
estimated twelve per cent
from a raging 34 prior
to 1978, viciously under
cut buying power.
Most of Nigeria's
workers have been paid
the N60 per month
minimum, although it has
been the costs of basic
necessities like food,
clothing and shelter that
have risen most. One re
cent visitor reports that,
while most Nigerians are
floundering, some
businessmen routinely
spend N200 ($120) or
more on weekday lunches.
Labor leaders, however,
are not only pressing for
greater benefits, but
criticizing the very foun
dations of the Nigerian
economy, and it is. this
that politicians find dis
quieting. The "Worker's
Charter of Demands'
released by the NLC in
February, for example, re
jects the "indigenization"
mandated by the Enter
prises Promotion Decree
under which at least
sixty per cent of all com
panies operating in the
country be ow led by
citizens as only ensur
ing transfer of wealth
from expatriate exploiters
to a Nigerian ruling class.
The Charter theii calls for
"fundamental structural
changes within the na
tional economy with a
view to establishing. . .
.the liberation of. the
workers and the broad
masses from conditions of
exploitation, misery and
poverty."
NLC President Sun
monu reiterated the ideas
of Jhe Charter in his May
Day speech, emphasizing
that "workers will not
achieve anything except
through struggle, unity
and solidarity."
"In the final end of the
struggle," Sunmonu con
cluded, "there should be
no poverty because there
will be no capitalism."
Such militance is incom
patible with the conser
vative perspective of the
ruling National Party of
Nigeria. President
Shagari's reserved style of
leadership fits the party
well, and he has remained
true to his "minimal
government" concept,
changing civilian govern
ment policies little from
those of the military
regime that handed over
power last October.
The president's 1980
budget follows this prece
dent. Few new expen
ditures were authorized,
with ongoing projects or
those furthering current
investments receiving
most of the funding.
- .Shagari has announced
-WjWever, some new- pro
grams aimed at curbing
housing and food costs. A
new National Council on
Housing has been set up to
oversee construction of
low cost homes for
workers. And, with much
fanfare, the president
unveiled a "Green
Revolution" program
targeting food self
sufficiency as a goal
replacing "Operation
Feed the Nation" launch
ed by the Obasanjc
military government.
Some of the measures to
be included are aimed at
easing loan arrangements
for agriculture and mak
ing Nigerian acreage more
favorable for multina-i
tional agribusiness. i
Shagari, a farmer
himself at one time, has
also spoken of the critical
need to make rural life
more attractive in order to
keep Nigeria's population
'down on the farm' and
to entice families back to
the farms from the towns.
In an 'urban drift
paralleling worldwide
trends, half of Nigeria's
population has moved
from rural areas to cities
since the early 1970s. Peo
ple arrive in the town seek
ing white collar or other
employment oppor
tunities, along with elec
tricity, good homes,
What's New at
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(0)
(2)7
Annual IntarMt compounded daily.
8.328 EFFECTIVE ANNUAL YIELD
to Day tarm. 1500 Minimum Deposit
Penalty for aarty withdrawal.
Savings insured up to $100,000.
FIRST CAPfTAL SMHNGS
AMD LOAM 4M0CUnUra
Nonngata Mall. Durham, 286-1241 Chapel Hi, 92W438
schools and roads. Instead
they often find unemploy
ment, high living costs,
overcrowded conditions
and increasingly
crime.
Violent crime and arm
ed robbery, spreading
from the cities to rural
areas as contact increases
between them, has been
called "Nigeria's most
pressing problem," by
West Africa magazine. A
recent report by a BBC
correspondent described
the capital, Lagos, as
"suffering from a nearly
total breakdown of law
and order."
Economic and political
injustice is the root of
armed robbery," wrote
Aaron Oana in West
Africa last January. He
and other commentators
coincide with labor leaders
in their analysis of
Nigeria's troubles, often
condemning the modified
capitalism trusted by
many of Nigeria's political
and business leaders.
RELIGION
New Foes Of
Apartheid
AN On July 2, a panel
of South African judges
sentenced 35 religious
leaders to fines of $70 or
fifty days in jail for their
participation in a May
protest that violated the
Riotous Assemblies Act.
Prosecution of the clerics ,
comes as the latest episode
in a long series of clashes
between church and state
in South Africa, an an
tagonism that has deepen
ed the international isola
tion of the National Party
government. Many
religious organizations
around the world have de
nounced South Africa's
racial policies. In the U.S.
two traditionally conser
vative denominations witr.
historical involvements in
southern Africa are recon
sidering their policies:
In a meeting last month,
tUe General Synod, the
governing body of tht
Reformed Church in
America, overwhelmingly
approved resolutions call
ing for withdrawal of in
vestments in banks and
corporations doing
business with South
Africa. In addition, the
church leaders decided in
favor of financial support
for the programs in
health, education and
welfare as well as for tru
diplomatic activities of the
South African liberation
movements recognized by
the Organization of
African Unity and the
United Nations.
ZIMBABWE
Mounting Tension
AN Prime Minister
Robert Mugabe met last
week with Minister of
Home Affairs Joshua
Nkomo and former Prime
Minister Ian Smith in an
effort to defuse growing
tensions which increas ig
ly threaten the future of
the new country. But even
while the meeting took
place, fighting broke out
between Nkomo and
Mugabe partisans in
Salisbury, the capital.
The clash took place
when several hundred
Nkomo supporters
demonstrated outside the
house of Finance Minister
I M
;. ::
'if Md W -
Nil: V; M- &
Cummin gs arm Reagw
Ronald Reagan raises hands with Jim Cummings, president nf the National Black Republican
Council, during a reception wi'h the group last Tuesday. UPI Photo
Enos Nkala, who the
previous weekend had
delivered a stinging
denunciation of Nkomo's
party at a meeting in
Bulawayo. Nkala, who
does not have a reputation
for tact, accused Nkomo
of not supporting the
coalition government,
called for a one-party state
based on Mugabe's
ZANU, and announced,
"If I remain in the govern
ment, I will crush Joshua
Nkomo."
Nkomo had earlier
criticized the government
for failure to include him
in the delegation to the
Organization of African
Unity summit, and h(
charged that important
decisions were being made
in the ZANU central com-
Duke News Service Wins Award
The Duke University
News Service has won a
lational award from the
mittee instead of by the
coalition government
Cabinet.
Many of Zimbabwe's
whites, for their part, are
reported upset by the
deteriorating relations bet
ween Zimbabwe and
South Africa. At the OAU
summit, Mugabe an
nounced that diplomatic
relations with Pretoria
would be cut off, and last
week South Africa
withdrew its diplomats
from Salisbury.
Council for the Advance
ment and Support of
Education, a Washington
based organization whose
membership includes
educational institutions
from throughout the
country.
The award, a Citation
Award, was presented in
recognition of the overall
quality of news bureau
programs, with special,
mphasis on non
'raditional methods.
Duke was one of eight
;olleges and universities
nationally to b honored
this year for its overall
program.
The program included
news releases, faculty
news-source lists, joint
sponsorship with UNC
Chapel Hill and N.C.
State University of an
economics briefing for
newsmen, sponsorship of
a tour by newsmen and
scientists of trouble spots
on the N.C. coast and
special handling of a ma
jor press conference on
the finding of a long-lost
Leonardo da Vinci
masterpiece
"Traveling in the company of those we love is- home in
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