Members of the congress will also elect other members of the National Executive Council (NEC) at the conference, slated for the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.
The new president will take over from Abdulwahed Omar, whose tenure will end after spending two terms of four years each, as the president of the congress.
Though, seven positions will be filled by 16 people during the conference, the real battle will be for the presidency of the congress, for which three labour leaders will be contesting.
Other available positions are: the deputy presidents with three seats; vice president, four seats; treasurer, financial secretary and trustees, one seat each; auditors, three seats and ex-officio, two seats.
The conference’s Credentials Committee, headed by Dr Nasir Fagge Isa, had already released the names of contestants duly cleared for each position, while the secretary of the committee, Emmanuel Ugboaja, told the Nigerian Tribune that all was set for the election.
The three contenders for the position of the NLC president are: The President of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Ayuba Wabba, the President of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Igwe Achese and the General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Joseph Ajaero.
The three candidates were all nominated by their respective unions, as the NLC constitution stated.
However, chances of any of the candidates depend on the numbers of his union’s delegates to the conference and how he would be able to garner enough supports among other affiliate unions.
The number of delegates of each union is also determined by the financial standing of the union and certified monthly average contribution to the NLC over the 46 month period since the last delegates conference.
According to the provisional list of delegates sent to all the 43 affiliate d unions, by the General Secretary of the congress, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, a total of 3,119 ,will participate in the conference to elect the president and other members of the executive.
Among the 43 unions, MHWUN, which nominated Wabba, had the highest number of the delegates with a total of 526 delegates. The NUEE, which also put forward Ajaero ,had a total number of 471 delegates in second position, while the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) ,had the third highest delegates with 383 delegates.
NUPENG, which is also aiming at producing the next president through . Achese ,had 182 delegates. The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), had 210 delegates, while the Nigeria Union of Local Government employees (NULGE) ,had 187 delegates.
Other unions with a reasonable high delegates are the Nigeria Civil Service Union, 131; the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives 123; and the
Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), with 91 delegates.
Among the unions with the least number of delegates are, the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, with five delegates each. The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Nigeria Welders and Fitters Association (NIWELFA) and Nigeria Union of Mine Workers (NUMW) with six delegates each.
The other two position to be contested are the Trustee with one seat and Auditors with three seats. While there are two candidates for the position of the Trustee, eight will be contesting for the three seats for Auditors.
The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Ozo-Eson, however, told Nigerian Tribune that the congress is ready and adequatly prepared for the election, despite the challenges.
He said: “We think that we are reasonably prepared. The hosting of a conference of the magnitude certainly has a lot of challenges. We noticed that we are going to have the largest number of delegates in our history at this conference. The delegates are in excess of three thousands.”
He added: “We have set up a number of committees that are working. We are on top of the situation. Other than those, the things that are crucial for the conference are constitutionally regulated.”
Source: Tribune
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