Being the speech of Comrade Segun Sango, the Protem National Chairperson of
the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) on the occasion of the founding convention
of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) being held today Saturday 16 November
2013 at the Women Development Centre, Oba Ogunji road,
Pen Cinema, Agege, Lagos.
Dear Comrades and SPN
Delegates from all over the country,
Dear Representatives of
workers, students, youths and community organisations,
Gentlemen of the Press
All protocols duly
observed,
Great Nigerian Working
People!
FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST WORKERS' AND POOR
PEOPLE'S GOVERNMENT
I am very
delighted to welcome you on this historic occasion of the founding convention
of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN). We are here today to elect the
National Executive Council (NEC) and to adopt the draft Manifesto and
Constitution of the party. This is a great progress we have made since the
Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) publicly proclaimed the initiative of
workers and socialist activists to work towards the registration of a political
platform that truly stands for economic and political needs of the working
masses and the poor in general, on May 1st 2012.
Since last year, we have
traversed the length and breadth of this country in an effort to locate
change-seeking elements to join us in building this great party. Even though
this constraint was imposed on us by the pro-rich and not sufficiently
democractic provisions of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, yet I must say the
journey has been very revealing and rewarding for us.
Indeed I am impressed by
the number of people that answered our clarion call. It shows that contrary to
the propaganda of the capitalists and their agents that a workers and poor
peoples’ party is not possible because people by their nature can only stand
for any principle in exchange for material benefit, there are a lot of
Nigerians who genuinely desire change in this country and are willing to fight
for that change. Assembled in this room are some of these Nigerians who have
agreed with us about the urgent necessity of building a political party that
represents workers and ordinary people.
NIGERIA ON THE BRINK
Comrades you will recall
that in May, 1999, the Nigerian civilian elite politicians took power from
their military counterparts after fifteen years of struggle by the Nigerian
working masses against military dictatorship. There was high hope by the masses
that civil rule would bring an end to mass poverty, worsening living
conditions, mass unemployment, suppression of democratic rights, massive
corruption, and insecurity of lives and property which characterised military
rule.
14 years after, the high
expectations of millions of Nigerians for real positive change in their lives
have been shattered by the politicians of PDP, APC, LP and other elite
politicians in the other capitalist parties. Not only has there been no
substantial improvement in the lives of the working masses, in some respect the
situation has become worse. Tens of millions of Nigerians still live without
access to good food, housing, roads, water, electricity, education and
healthcare. Thousands of workers have been retrenched from their jobs. Despite
Nigeria's abundant wealth, over 112 million Nigerians out of a population of
about 170 million are too poor to afford the basic standard of living of good
shelter, nutritious food and good quality education.
The anti-poor policies of
privatisation of public assets, commercialization of education, health, housing
and other social services, and retrenchment of workers have made more and more
Nigerians poorer and the rich minority richer. Corruption among the elite has
not only remained, it has become more sophisticated. Political office holders
earn millions of naira in salaries, allowances and privileges while workers and
pensioners get poverty wages which are not even paid as at when due.
Nigeria
has become one of the most unequal societies in the world, with the richest 20%
of Nigerians getting 55.7% of the country's total income while the poorest 20%
are left to struggle for just 4.4%. Currently Nigeria faces
gargantuan problems in all areas of socio-economic and political endeavours.
The nation's economy has further nosedived under the President Jonathan
government, lower than any other time since 1999. In every area you look at the
only conclusion you will come to is that the President Goodluck Jonathan
government has failed resoundingly.
Mind you, when we say the
government has failed, it is not an isolated opinion. Indeed this is the
opinion of the mass majority of Nigerians. According to an opinion poll of the
Leadership newspaper "81% of Nigerians assessed government's performance
in managing the economy as very bad and fairly bad; but only 19% assessed the
government's performance as very well and fairly well. 85% of Nigerians think
the present government has performed very badly in improving the living
standard of the poor while only 15% think the government is doing very well in improving
the living standard of the poor". (March 26, 2013).
Just look at the condition
of electricity, road infrastructures, education and health sector! Nigeria's
population of over 170 million people and the country's large industrial
concerns share a mere 4,000 megawatts of electricity. South Africa which
roughly has a third of Nigeria's population produces 45,000 megawatts! The
roads have become congested and degraded with transport costs, times and
accident rates all increasing over time. Only 23% Nigeria road networks are paved. Under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for road
construction supported by both the PDP and APC, road infrastructure in Nigeria
will remain in this sorry condition.
As I speak, Nigeria is the
only major oil exporting country that does not have sufficient and functional
infrastructure to produce the fuel and gas it needs, and as such appropriate
close to one trillion naira annually for importation of petroleum products!
Allegedly to end this sheer system madness all the ruling capitalist political
parties have accepted to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) fervently being
canvassed by multinational oil corporations and their local partners. When this
happens, the present limited control which Nigeria has over its oil and gas
wealth will be completely transferred to international oil barons and local
capitalist backers. This, the masses are being told is the best way to
guarantee petroleum products.
The ruling class, despite all bragging about diversification, are bereft of
any solution, even medium term, to diversify Nigeria's economy away from oil
nor can they reconcile their reliance on oil rents and royalties with the need
to industrialize the economy. While there is much fuss about telecoms sector,
the reality is that the sector has yielded no fundamental solution to
unemployment. While there is of course rise in phone lines from less than 500,
000 15 years ago to as much as 110 million mobile lines as at first quarter
2013, this is not the full picture. Majority of line holders, as a result of
terrible telecom services, have two or more active lines, implying less than
half the population are connected. Worse still, the telecom industry, despite
having earned more than a trillion naira in the last ten years, still
contribute an insignificant percentage to employment generation. Majority of
so-called telecom sector employments consist of people who sell recharge cards
– many of them educated – but surviving from hand to mouth.
Perhaps the most serious aspect of Nigeria's problems is the poor and
hopeless condition of the youth. Today unemployment has become a permanent
feature of the life of our youth despite alleged impressive economic growth.
The latest, July 2013, population estimate is that Nigeria has 175.5 million
inhabitants. Of these 76.8 million (43.8%) are under 14 years old. When you add
the 33.6 million 15 to 24 year olds, 63.1% of Nigeria's current population is
under 25 years old. But capitalism cannot offer these youth a real future.
Presently the public Universities and Polytechnics have been shut for months
due to strike actions of academic staff to demand the honouring of agreements
signed with them by the Federal Government. But due to the fact that the
capitalist ruling elite do not have their children in public higher
institutions in Nigeria, the government does not care whether schools are shut
for a year or whether lecturers have the adequate facilities to do their job.
At this juncture, permit me to ask party members to stand up for a minute
silence in the memory of Prof. Festus Iyayi, a former president of ASUU, who
died in a motor accident on the way to Kano to attend ASUU NEC meeting to
review the over four months strike by the union to achieve better public
universities funding and improved conditions of service for the lecturers.
Unless this anti-poor capitalist government is urgently replaced by a working
masses government, there is a real danger facing Nigeria. Tens of millions of
youth without a job or future is a time-bomb waiting to explode. Already no-one
can doubt that one of the factors in Boko Haram's growth is the desperate
economic and social situation in the north-east.
Under the prevailing PDP government and or under the unlikely APC
government, the economic conditions of Nigeria and the living conditions of the
vast majority of its people could only be expected to nose dive. Only a
socialist government of the workers and poor that is committed to public
ownership of the main means of production and natural resources including Banks
and Finance Institutions and steadfastly committed to working class democracy
can utilize Nigeria's abundant human an natural resources for the benefit of
all and not just the capitalist few rich, which dominate the economy and
society nationally and internationally.
THE NATIONAL QUESTION
Besides the debilitating economic crisis, politically, Nigeria faces
ferocious ethno-religious conflict across the country. Presently, agitations by
armed groups in Niger Delta for "Resource Control" or self-determination
seem to have considerably gone down. However, to sustain the present truce,
tens of billions of naira are being paid to militia leaders and their
supporters under an amnesty package implemented since the time of late
president Musa Yar'Adua. Notwithstanding, Nigeria is currently losing, an
estimated revenue of about N6 billion monthly due to crude oil theft allegedly
being perpetrated by members and supporters of the Niger Delta militia groups.
In the neighbouring South-East region, cacophonic agitation by MOSOB for a
Biafra Republic has been raging for several years with lots of killings
perpetrated by the state forces striving to forcibly quell this movement.
However, all the aforementioned events appear as a child's play, when
placed side by side with the raging Boko Haram insurgency in North East since
2009. Up till date, an estimated 5,000 persons have lost their lives to the
murderous armed campaigns by the Boko Haram insurgents, who have been
repeatedly demanding that part or the whole country become an Islamic state,
and the state security forces allegedly striving to forcibly suppress the
insurgents. Currently, government has imposed a full state of emergency in
Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States, in the quest to forcibly bring the Boko Haram
menace to an end. So far, this has only had little effect on the murderous
campaigns of the insurgents, while hundreds are still being frequently killed
by Boko Haram and the state security forces in the states under state of
emergency.
The often brutal, and undemocratic, methods of the security forces only
serve to help recruit more to Boko Haram. The recent killing of the innocent
homeless people, mostly artisans, who were squatting at an uncompleted building
in Abuja by the operatives of the SSS under the guise of fighting Boko Haram
shows that the security operatives are as blood-sucking as Boko haram
insurgents.
Military strikes will not fundamentally end the Boko Haram menace nor
prevent resurgence of terrorism and violence elsewhere like the Niger Delta,
Plateau State and other flashpoints of ethno-religious crisis in Nigeria. The
first thing to recognise is that the incident of ethno-religious crises is
caused by the unjust and undemocratic manner in which the entity called Nigeria
was formed by the British Colonialists. Under this arrangement, nations
previously not dominated by any other and expressing no desire to coexist
together under one roof, were by virtue of the administrative convenience of
the ruling British colonial masters yoked together under one authority. This
undemocratic situation now coupled with the exploitative capitalist system
handed over to Nigeria's ruling elites at independence are the root causes of
ethnic and religious crises.
We should not deceive ourselves. No member of the corrupt ruling elite
whether of the PDP or APC has any serious and reliable solution to the
ethno-religious crises threatening to tear Nigeria apart. Our party, the SPN,
supports the call for a truly democratic Sovereign National Conference (SNC) and
not the toothless National dialogue being organised by President Jonathan.
However we believe that only a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) dominated by
the elected representatives of the working masses and oppressed strata and
which offers opportunity for the re-discussion of Nigeria and the struggle for
a socialist transformation of society can begin to create the basis for an end
to ethno-religious tension and crises.
While today socialists stand for a united socialist Nigeria, we also
respect the desire and aspiration of ethnic nationalities to separate and form
their own independent nations if they so wish. In line with this, the SPN
recognises the right to self-determination up to and including secession if
that is the democratic wish of people of a given nation or group of nations in
Nigeria. If our party comes to power, we shall grant this right to every
nationality. However as Socialists, we cannot shy away from frankly telling the
masses that simply breaking Nigeria into whatever number of independent units
will not primarily address the problem of mass poverty which is primarily
caused by the global capitalist system. Socialists must warn the working masses
that it is possible to have a Nigeria broken into several independent national
or geographical components and yet still have widespread poverty in these
respective entities/republics/empires unless they also break with capitalism.
But separation would not be the end of the national question. Hardly any area
is ethnically homogeneous. Within "minority" areas there are
minorities. Fear of being a minority in an Igbo dominated state was one reason
why many Ogonis supported the Federal government during the civil war.
Therefore as well as supporting the right of self-determination Socialists also
defend the rights of minorities and those who might suddenly become
"foreigners" in the land they live in.
Equally the SPN stands for the complete separation of the State from
religion. This is why we have always advocated against state religion which involves
inclusion of religion as an identity in almost all areas of our national life
up to the practise where governments use public money to build churches and
mosques and to pay or subsidize pilgrimages to Mecca, Rome and Jerusalem.
However the ultimate solution to ethno-religious crises is the replacement
of neo-colonial capitalism which is the source of mass poverty and insecurity,
with a democratic socialist system only which can ensure that the basic needs
and aspirations of the working masses and youths of Nigeria are met
irrespective of ethnic or religious persuasion. This is why we have to build
the SPN to take political power and begin to run Nigeria in the interest of the
mass majority.
WHY WE NEED A
PARTY OF THE WORKING MASSES
Comrades! So widespread is the level of mass dissatisfaction that if given
a clear political alternative the working masses across the country will demand
an immediate end to the prevailing mass misery in the midst of stupendous
abundance. Unfortunately most leaders of the organizations of the working
masses and youths have totally failed to proffer the necessary alternative.
They are in fact scared to struggle. This is unlike the Nigerian working
people. Since 2000 there have been eight massive general strikes, plus another
three called off at the last moment. All the strikes, particularly the last one
in January 2012, were massively supported and posed the question of 'who runs
the country?' However, the current labour leaders are not willing to challenge
the ruling class and so call off the strikes as soon as they can.
This position of the labour leaders is not
accidental; most trade unions leaders do no longer depend on check off dues of
ordinary workers for the running of the unions. In fact, trade union
organizations no longer have independent view points on how to run the economy
and society. Present day trade union leaders slavishly support a private sector
driven agenda being propagated by the capitalist strategists. Despite massive
unemployment and poor wages, trade union leaders are not proffering a strategy
that can ensure that enough jobs are created; nor fight for decent working
conditions for the lucky few that have jobs. Meanwhile most trade union leaders
now have access to frequent international travels and lavish estacodes being
paid for by capitalist government and their international trade union agencies
and organizations.
This is also the reason why the labour leaders have
refused to build the Labour Party (LP) as a genuine working class political
party. They have abandoned it to corrupt politicians to make use of for their
selfish ambition to win elections and loot resources. The LP today is nothing
but the second-eleven of pro-rich capitalist political parties. The LP does not
represent or defend workers interests.
As 2015 general elections inch closer, there are no
visible signs that the trade union leaders are committed to reclaiming the
Labour Party, which they themselves formed, from elements who run the party
ideologically and organizationally like just another capitalist party. Instead,
their last murmuring in this respect is to go out and look for "Labour
Friendly" candidates to come and run under the Labour Party's platform!
Meanwhile without a political party of their own, the fate of the working
masses will continue to be decided by either the PDP or the APC both of which
are not different from the other. This is why we took the decision in May 2012
to launch the campaign for registration of the Socialist Party of Nigeria
(SPN).
As things stand today, the APC does not have any
virtue or policy that can endear it to the vast majority of Nigerians genuinely
desiring positive change in their economic, social and living conditions. In
this situation the "winners" of the 2015 general elections should be
expected to be determined by politicians that can deploy more state powers of
manipulation, coercion and most especially money power. There must be no
illusion in the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC) which is a
merger of ACN, ANPP and CPC. Their record in office shows they are all
anti-poor. For instance, the model of APC is the Fashola/ACN government in
Lagos which has waged fierce war against the poor and working people in the
state. For instance, university education has been taken out of the reach of
students of the poor and working class parents in the state while different
sections of the working people like okada (commercial motorcycle) operators and
petty traders have been ruthlessly deprived of their means of livelihood.
This is why the working people need a political party of their own to wrest
power from the anti-poor politicians irrespective of political parties and
replace the iniquitous private profit driven capitalist agenda with socialist
program. This means that we need in power the government of the working people
that would commit the resources of the society to the provision of functional
education, health care, decent housing, decent jobs, infrastructure, etc. In
order to mobilize adequate resources to achieve this, the commanding heights of
the economy must be put under public ownership with democratic management and
control of the working people, while the public officers who are subject to
recall must receive the average salary of civil servants.
I call on rank and file workers, the poor masses and youths to embrace the
Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) and build it into a formidable political
alternative that can win political power and ensure that Nigeria's abundant
human and natural resources are properly harnessed and developed to meet the
needs of all as against the prevailing capitalist arrangement that perpetuate
mass misery in the midst of stupendous abundance.
OUR PROGRAM
Nigeria is endowed with huge natural and human
resources capable of guaranteeing adequate food, decent housing, and full
employment with living wages, affordable and good quality education and
healthcare, functional and adequate socio-economic infrastructure such as
electricity, rails, waterways and road transportation including standard educational
institutions and hospitals for all. Why then are most Nigerians, particularly
the working masses poor, and are getting poorer? The main reason is that the
economic wealth and resources of society are in the hands of a minority class
of the rich few. Government's political and economic policies and decisions are
based on satisfying the profit motive of this class rather than provision of
the basic needs of workers, peasant farmers, students, traders, artisans,
professionals and the masses in general.
The mass sack of workers, the decay in the health and
educational systems, the escalating costs of food and transportation, the
neglect of the rural farming and peasant poor as well as the collapse of public
infrastructure only reflect a basic fact: that the wealth produced by the
working class majority is appropriated for personal use by the corrupt ruling
capitalist class (the club of millionaires).
The task of reversing the above trend requires a mass
oriented programme whose ultimate purpose is to uplift the living and working
standards of the working people, the studying conditions of the students and to
create equal opportunities and access to social services and public utilities
for the able-bodied and the physically challenged as well as the majority and
the minority groups. This is the kind of programme being offered by the
Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), a political party dedicated to the task of
abolishing poverty, unequal opportunities and corruption in the Nigerian
society. The SPN is a platform for change seeking individuals who are genuinely
worried that the working masses suffer untold hardship in the midst of abundant
natural and human resources.
To reverse this trend and ensure that enough resources
are available to implement a program of public works that can provide for the
real needs of the overwhelming majority of the populace, the Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) will stand for the public ownership of the key sectors of the
economy and their democratic control and management by elected representatives
of the working people. SPN believes that the solution to the problems facing
the Nigerian society can only be found through the democratic participation of
various strata of the society, particularly the teeming millions of the working
masses, in the management of the affairs of society and the taking of decisions
on issues which affect their lives.
If elected, the SPN shall ensure the prompt
implementation of Chapter 11 (Two) of the constitution which lists all the
fundamental duties of the State. In addition, we shall equally pursue the
following:
(1) Quality and free public education at all levels
and ensure the democratic running of the education sector by elected
representatives of education workers, students and communities.
(2) Quality and free health care for all
(3) Massive public works programme to ensure the
provision of affordable, decent and dignifying shelter for all and sundry. This
will be achieved through the nationalisation of the private cement companies
and big construction companies whose profit interest is the reason for the
absurdity of tens of thousands of Nigerians having no home even though there is
no shortage of construction materials like cement, sand and stone and most
importantly human resources.
(4) Pursuit of a conscious policy of electricity
provision for both industrial and domestic usage. Presently, electricity
generation is insufficient and vast numbers of people especially in the suburbs
and rural areas are not connected to electricity at all. Achieving the full
electrification of Nigeria and maximum generation requires doing away with the
private ownership of the sector. An SPN government will reverse the
privatisation of the PHCN and instead place the electricity sector under the
democratic control and management of the working people.
(5) Rejection of the contract system and the Public
Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement which the main capitalist political
parties of the PDP and APC accept as the only path to development is
fraudulent. Rather it is a means for siphoning of public funds into private
pockets. An SPN government shall invest massively in road construction as a
public works programme, not as a contract to business friends of politicians as
is being done now. We shall also invest in sea, air and rail transportation in
order to make movement of people and goods easy.
(6) Reversal of the massive neglect of Agriculture. An
SPN government will be committed to achieving complete food sufficiency.
Therefore an SPN government will invest massively in agricultural sector by
organising state farms and also by supporting farmers with tools, fertiliser
and cheap loans.
(7) Public ownership the commanding heights of the
economy including the banks, oil sector, steel and construction industry etc
and their placement under the democratic control and management of the working
masses. This is important to ensure that our economy works for the mass
majority not just a few. We reject the notion that only the private sector can
drive development. We believe that a private sector led development will only
benefit a few whereas a public sector-led development, especially if
democratically controlled by the working class, will ensure the greatest
happiness of all.
(8) The provision and protection of the democratic
rights of the workers, youth and poor masses.
CONCLUSION
As you all know, in a few days time, Nigeria will be
100 years old. Today we are beginning a new chapter in the history of Nigeria;
a chapter that will be dominated by the political struggle of the working
masses to take power and begin to take control of the destiny of this Nation in
the interest of the vast majority.
At the end of today we delegates seated here
representing the working class, the youth and the poor masses of Nigeria would
have done what many think impossible - the commencement of the building of a
political party of the downtrodden working masses by electing a National
Executive Committee (NEC). After today, we will be in a good position to submit
an application for the registration of the party to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC).
For a long time, the capitalists and their apologists
relying on the undemocratic and pro-rich provisions of the constitution and the
Electoral Act which ensure that only looters and moneybag politicians can form
political parties, have made it impossible for the working masses to have a
true political representation. Truly the electoral act has been so contrived
that it guarantees that the working masses will continue every four years to
look on who to vote for among their oppressors.
However today and despite the huge difficulties, we
are demonstrating that we can meet the constitutional provisions for the
regisration of a new political party as stipulated under the 1999 Constitution.
In getting to where we are today, we have never sought or accepted a single
donation from any moneybag politician or member of the capitalist ruling elite.
Rather we have relied heavily on the financial donation from workers, youth,
students, poor masses and our supporters across the country. This is how we
shall continue to build the SPN. The SPN must continue to be a political party
owned, controlled and funded by workers, poor masses and the youth. The ruling
class or their representatives have no place in our party. Resting on the
working and toiling masses, the SPN shall build a movement to liberate Nigeria
from the oppressive capitalist elite ruining the country. We shall mobilise
support for and intervene in the daily struggle of all the sections of
the working people for improvement and against all forms of capitalist attacks.
We will give solidarity to all workers
and oppressed in Africa, and elsewhere in the world, and actively support their
struggles for liberation from capitalism.
I wish all fruitful deliberation. Thank you very much
Comrade
Segun Sango
Protem National Chairperson
Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN)
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