Abraham Ogbodo
In product manufacturing, especially food and drugs, there is something called expiry date. It is the date set on the pack beyond which the drug loses its potency. Based on scientific analysis of the rated potency, a time belt is usually created for the product to serve its purpose. It runs from the manufacturing date to the expiry date. Diligent buyers look out for this time belt on the pack to avoid exchanging value for something worthless.
Other things outside manufactured products expire too. Documents get expired and they are taken back to the issuing authorities for renewal at prescribed fees or charges. It is a form of taxation. If the issuance has to do with government, certifications and subsequent renewal of certified documents, constitute an essential part of the income streams of a government. In the newsroom, expiration is the currency of trade. But it does not go by that description. It is called deadline. And if a difficult editor refuses to extend the deadline after setting one, the reporter who fails to meet the deadline, somehow ‘dies.’
Institutions, bodies, movements, unions, ideas and even human beings also suffer expiration. Regarding humans, I do not mean expiration in the absolute sense of cessation of life – death. It is expiration in the sense of loss of essence. That is, when a man or woman, by omission or commission, loses that by which he or she is defined. Same way, institutions expire when they negate their foundations and stop to represent their objectives. And here is where I am actually going today. Many humans and institutions in Nigeria have stayed past their expiry date. They have been dragging themselves along, just for the optics. They are too many to be fully listed.
For instance, there was a time in this country when the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) spoke and government and all employers of labour listened attentively. I am not even talking of the distant past of when late Pa Michael Imuodu lived in the Labour House, Yaba, Lagos, as its chief tenant. I am talking of a period as recent as the late 90s and the early years of this century when Comrade Adams Oshiomhole was president of the NLC. I want to quickly add that efficiency or efficacy is a consequence of effective application. If one takes paracetamol for dysentery, the result will be zero. Back then, Comrade Adams Oshiohmole and NLC constituted an effective application. His wasn’t a case of swallowing paracetamol for dysentery. The potency of the combination was palpable. The man found excellent expressions in the NLC. His time as NLC’s president was most glorious.
The Comrade however is not what the Yoruba call _gbogbonise_ . He is not a wonder herbal formula that cures all ailments. From labour activism to partisan politics was a structural misalignment that required a new therapy. While Nigerians hoped for sustained performance as a governor, Comrade Oshiomhole had expired. His statements fell short of hope and formed content for politics where the same word could bring opposite meaning. For instance, inside Labour House, fuel subsidy meant so well for the generality of the people and only a government that existed solely to impoverish the masses could contemplate its removal. Inside Government House however, the interpretation changed. Retention of fuel subsidy suddenly turned the worst conspiracy against Nigerians. Its removal to purportedly transport Nigerians from ultimate doom to boom, became a directive principle of state policy.
From hindsight, it was like Oshiomhole used the platform of labour more for his purpose than he did for the welfare of workers. He needed a political high ground to anchor after the seemingly tough crusading at the NLC. A sure path to this was for the Comrade to grandstand like a cock before a hen, and appear larger than his real self with loud but empty statements. In the build-up to his election as governor of Edo State, he had projected the image of a straight-forward and reliable labour leader. He was not seen as the usual double-speaking politician.
But truth is constant. Whether in manufacturing or social crusading, expiration is an intrinsic control that runs independent of the agent. This is why things, ideas and humans that get expired often do not know that they have run their course and no longer of consequence to the world of real value. No poll has been conducted to ascertain the true position, but I think the choice between Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Senator Adams Oshiomhole which is same as the choice between Adams Oshiomhole as a labour leader and Adams Oshiomhole as a politician, would not be too difficult to make by Nigerians. And so, it does not matter if the Comrade still grandstands at airports and other public places as a man of all seasons, Nigerians surely know better. He has expired.
The Nigerian Labour Congress has also expired. It was to be expected. Its bond with Comrade Oshiomhole was too strong for the congress to be insulated. It followed Oshiomhole to change form and structure. Instead of strictly labour matters and workers’ welfare, the congress felt helping the Buhari/Tinubu coalition to chase Goodluck Jonathan out of power in 2015, was a national assignment. Maybe the congress did that in anticipation of a better Nigeria. When that did not come under Buhari and same has not quite happened under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the NLC has become exposed and vulnerable. It has played all its ace cards without winning a prize. It lost its potency for nothing.
That was why politicians in Imo State could organise to almost beat to death its president, Joe Ajaero and nothing happened thereafter. Such is the real cost of asserting potency when there is none left in a healing agent. By reason of association, other strong affiliates of NLC have also expired. Last week, there was this hide and seek game between Dangote Refinery and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). This is not the NUPENG of Frank Kokori. This is the NUPENG of some other people who had been sleeping while all four national refineries refused to be turned around after three decades of turning them around and spending tens of billions of dollars.
It is the NUPENG that has not been able to account for the loss of 18 fuel depots in strategic locations to ease fuel distribution across the country. It is the NUPENG that never did anything or uttered even a word in defence of Nigerians when government turned the increase of petroleum pump price into a national sports festival to be enjoyed by spectators. Surprisingly, this same NUPENG has woken up midstream to raise issues on due process and compliance. It wants Nigerians to understand why Dangote must be stopped from making fuel available nationwide without following due process.
Really? Perhaps, this NUPENG does not understand the full meaning of deregulation. Deregulation means a licence to do as you like! That is why BAT is doing as he likes. From removal of fuel subsidy, he is discussing seriously petroleum tax as if he is on a mission to mortgage the country and her people for more money. Under deregulation, Dangote is also free to do as he likes to remain competitive.
Let me shock you. I am at the final stage of perfecting an exclusive technology that will convert ocean water (not even fresh water) to fuel. When I get there, I will run Dangote out of town and bestride the down stream’s gateway like colossus. I am not asking you to believe me. NUPENG can do something similar to underscore its monumentality. Rallying drivers to disrupt products distribution, does not give a clear edge. What gives an edge is value addition. Nigerians are tired of a protest economy where anger and violence are weaponised to command so much utility.
Enough to say NUPENG has expired. It holds no significant social value. This explains the indifference of Nigerians to the move by Octopus Dangote to steal their lunch. This absolute vehicular bridging of highly combustible petroleum products across the country must stop. Even Dangote must start thinking seriously too. Almost on a daily basis, we read reports of petroleum tankers falling and creating infernos that consume lives and property. If NUPENG can create conversations around innovative ways of transporting fuel without tankers and drivers, Nigerians will applaud and revalidate them. For now, these tanker drivers collectively known as NUPENG have expired in the socio-economic calculations. They do not represent any serious coefficient.
We shall continue the conversation next week on somebody very important that has also expired long ago.
Tribune
