Comrade Akhator Joel Odigie was elected General Secretary of ITUC-Africa during the 5th Congress of the regional organization held in Kenya in November 2023. In his first full interview with journalists, he highlights his vision for workers in 2024 and beyond. MICHAEL OCHE reports for Nigerian Pilot
ITUC-Africa through ATUMNET has been a leading voice for the promotion of the rights of migrant workers, especially African migrant workers. Can you tell us more about what to expect regarding this campaign in 2024?
Thank you very much. Let me first say that the African Trade Union Migration Network (ATUMNET), its essence is to contribute to the advancement of pro-right based migration governance in the continent that will also contribute to the development agenda of Africa.
When the rights of migrants and migrant workers are protected, their innate and express contribution could also help to advance our development agenda. Having said that, ATUMNET is focused to making its contribution in the following areas in 2024:
Africa’s integration: On the issue of integration, we commit to three areas of campaigns. Number one; ratification of frameworks and instruments in the continent. One of such is the African Free movement protocol. As we speak today, only four countries have ratified this protocol. These are Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Niger. We want an increase in that number to a minimum of 14 in 2024. We are going to push for this increase by showing our governments the arguments. Let’s not forget, when we talk about Africa’s integration, we are talking about how we can work together as a continent to increase our voice as a block at the global level.
Our continent still remains on the margin of the global economy. This is why rightly, we have as a continent, adopted the African continental free trade area to say let’s trade amongst ourselves better. This is a good initiative. Though, we have concerns about the trade policy because some things have not been achieved yet. But for me, we can learn by practice. We can improve by practice. So we welcome it. And the more we look at the AFCFTA, the more we’ll see where our weaknesses are. When we are committed, we will work to continue to improve it. So as organised labour on the continent, we support the AfCFTA because AfCFTA is about workers. It is the workers that create the goods and services with which you trade. So, we see our role very much there.
However, still on the issue of integration, if the African Union or African member states have overwhelmingly adopted the AfCFTA, it is inconceivable that they will not adopt or ratify the free movement protocol because they are complementary instruments and the member states adopted the development of both policies and frameworks. And so when it comes to ratification, this is where you are having some kind of divergence. I do not think that there is a need for that. Why? Free movement gives opportunity for ideas. When you move, you contribute to innovation, invention. Because ideas, people, enthusiasm, energies are on the move, including capital, they are even on the move, especially in this instance, social capital, and social capital is even more useful for deepening stability. When people integrate more, there are less chances of friction or violent conflicts, because that kind of integration increases tolerance and cohabitation.
I want to commend the latest kid on the block, Kenya, for making a commitment in 2024 to say “we will remove visas for all Africans”. It is exemplary and we commend them. And this is why we think Kenya should not waste time. They should be among the first few countries to ratify the free movement protocol. Benin Republic is Africa’s most open country on the continent because nobody needs a visa to go to Benin. We are saying this and we are publicising this for Africans and the world to know that Benin is open. If you want to go to Benin, you don’t have to think twice. And it’s a country with very rich historical and cultural things to find out. And so it’s a place we recommend you to go to for holiday. And this is why we say to the Government of Benin, what are you waiting for? Ratify the free movement protocol. If you have opened your country to Africans, it’s only semantics that you don’t ratify.
What other areas will ITUC-Africa be working on in 2014?
Also in 2024, we want to work more on the issue of skills development. We’re saying if we want to integrate this continent, our people must have capacity to be able to do this. This is why as ITUC-Africa, we are interested in working with the African Union, of course with the ILO supporting the African Union, on the issue of the YES (Youth Employment Strategy), Africa Initiative. To create employment, you must give capacity. So you must train people. So capacity development is key for job creation, for employability. So we are interested in this in 2024. We are going to be campaigning on the issue of employment, capacity development and skills development.
Our advocacy will also include Skills Partnership. So for countries, especially European countries, in this instance, who say “okay we have challenges with Africans moving in droves through the Sahara and rickety boats across the Mediterranean” we say come let’s work together. Let’s invest in skills development, and employment creation in our continent. Let’s broaden the base, broaden the employment base.
And for us, when we broaden the employment base, we broaden the tax base, which leads me to the third issue – Social protection. We are going to be very critical on social protection for all workers including migrants, because when people have opportunities for survival, for welfare, for wellbeing, the attraction to move to Europe is substantially reduced. So we want to increase the tax base, we want to broaden the tax base through job creation so that people can then pay taxes.
In 2023, ITUC-Africa led a campaign on Africa’s debt burden and illicit financial flow. Is there a plan to sustain the campaign in 2024?
Our work on illicit financial flows and the debt campaign will continue because we are saying how do we finance social protection? Our engagement is not the one where we just tell the government “do this or do that. No, we are contributing to the solutions. So this way, we are campaigning for our government to do the needful – in terms of policy, practice and programme-wise to reduce tax leakages. And then with our creditors, how do we reschedule our debt in a way that the budget to debt servicing is not skewed against social spending.
I repeat, we are interested in reversing this skewed budget, to debt servicing ratio that is skewed against social service spending. We want to reverse that. And then of course, we want to increase our work on fair recruitment. We are saying given the demographics globally, there will also be a need for Africans to move elsewhere. We’ve talked about it. The Middle East with their petrol dollars has a very ambitious plan of modernization. They will need labour. Our people will go there to work. These are opportunities. When they are well trained, they will find jobs there. But more than that, we’re interested in their rights being protected. In other words, they must go without being exploited or abused and they must return with a good sense of dignity. And this leads me to the other area of work for ATUMNET, which is reintegration. When people go, they must be excited to want to come back. We have heard stories of when people go and are working, they save, and they come back. Their savings which they thought their family members are keeping have been spent or have been stolen. We are going to work with the government to devise a saving scheme for migrants. Such schemes exist, we are saying replicate. And don’t forget, when these people save, this money is also available for development. This money also creates jobs for those who manage the funds.
So, how do we encourage our Diasporas to return home?
We are encouraging our diaspora to contribute to brain gain. We have brain drain, which we all know, but we are saying when they go and we have the possibility to attract them to return, then we gain – in ideas and innovation. And we see quite a number of our governments that are doing this and we will continue to advocate for them to do more of that. But the final point, which I want to stress, is that our work on the rights of every worker, including migrants, should be secured. Including the right to organise, including rights to join unions and to be active in the union. We will continue to push for all of this. On the fair recruitment I was talking about. I’m saying we need more work on regulation of recruitment agencies and recruitment practices. We need more regulation. And the last point is social dialogue. We want to be seen as contributors, agents of change. And this is where our campaign on expanding the social dialogue space. Where social dialogue institutions do not exist, please create one. Where it does exist, facilitate it for it to be strong, for it to be effective. Much more importantly, let it be tripartite. And let the tripartite actors be genuinely engaged and involved. When there is a medium and space to discourse, ideas will always come. This is what democracy is about. We are all in agreement, it is not about a four year electoral ritual of ballot voting, it is about engaging the states and engaging the apparatus and functionaries of the state every day. So as change agents, our social dialogue component will also mean asking our governments to be responsive and accountable. We are going to continue to make these demands.
So, how do you plan to achieve all of these?
Like I said earlier, our approach is not the approach of lamentation. Neither is it an approach of critiquing. It is an approach of alternatives. We will constantly advance alternatives. “Can you do like this?” And then we will take necessary steps to convince you to see why our option is viable.
In 2023, we saw a further shrinking of civic space in many African countries. Knowing all of this, how would you engage African governments to ensure protection of rights of workers and citizens?
Yes, you are correct. The diagnosis, in terms of the shrinking civic space, especially liberty to association, to expression and to assembly has come under increased attack. And we find this unfortunate. And you don’t grow democracy this way. So for us, democracy is what is continuously under attack. And it is worse when the rule of law is then further weakened. You don’t grow, you don’t deepen, and you don’t consolidate democracy with this kind of approach. What is important is the need to change and to change them. And as ITUC-Africa, we are committed to continue to speak out on the issue. At least for the Nigerian media, since you are a Nigerian journalist. What happened in Imo state for instance where the NLC president was beaten is an aberration, is a disgrace, is an international disgrace to Nigeria as a democracy. The case where government officials or police takeover the headquarters of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, or where the Lagos State government seizes the property of RTEAN (Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria) is unacceptable. In Eswatini, workers are shot for just simply asking to be represented. And till today, there is no investigation. And you say there is a democracy? No, this is not correct. So we are going to be speaking up on these issues to demand that our democracy work. Democracy is about freedom of association. If you, as a politician, have been able to join a political party, it is because you enjoy freedom of association. Why should trade unions not enjoy the same rights? And the beauty of it is that our constitutions across the continent are very clear on these rights- the rights to freedom of expression, of association and of assembly. So we are going to be asking our leaders in a more collaborative way to respect our constitution, to respect our democracy to grow. And we will do this not in any way adversarial, we are going to be very scientific with it. We will point to the fact and we will point to the alternatives that are available. And if you do not, we will campaign that you must. Because it is about accountability. You must hold people accountable.
