Issa Aremu Bags National Productivity Order Of Merit Award :Profile of a Comrade

The Vice President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the General Secretary National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) Comrade Issa Aremu, mni is one of the 16 recipients of the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) Award by His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Award is in recognition of his effort in promoting productivity improvement and consciousness in the textile industry and Nigeria as a whole. The Award ceremony is part of activities to mark 2014 National Productivity Day (NPD) took place on Thursday August 21, 2014 at the Grand Ball room, NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
COMRADE ISSA AREMU became the Substantive General Secretary, National Union of Textile Garment & Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) in 2008 after taking over Comrade Adams Oshiomhloe two terms NLC President and currently Edo State Governor. Since he took over the leadership of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) over a decade ago, Comrade Issa Aremu, mni, has distinguished himself as a hard and smart working comrade and one of the outstanding leaders of Nigeria trade union movement. Within this period, he has commendably built on the very foundation laid by his predecessor and incumbent governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, mni, in the core areas of trade union activities namely collective bargaining, grievance handling, active representation of workers and defence of workers’ rights. Importantly, Comrade Issa Aremu, mni has been consistent in his advocacy and constructive collaboration with government and employers for the revival of textile industry in particular and creation of mass decent jobs.
ACHIEVEMENTS
The advocacy of his union under his leadership contributed a great to the comprehensive report of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) which informed government intervention fund for the industry. As a result the biggest textile mill,UNTL Kaduna which hitherto shut down in 2007 was reopened in 2010 with direct jobs of 1000 workers. For this singular efforts among others, his union NUTGWN won 2013 INDUSTRIALIZATION DAY Award by the Federal Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade in collaboration with UNIDO. Comrade Issa Aremu played critical interventionist role to avert industrial crisis in the textile sector in particular and other sectors in general. Putting to use his expertise in negotiation and collective bargaining, he was instrumental to peaceful resolution of some critical national labour market issues through his membership of various Tri-partite Committees set up by the Federal Government, which includes; Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee, National Labour Advisory Committee as well as Committees on National Minimum Wage. He was a Member of Governing Council, Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies and Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF). His contributions on the boards helped in repositioning these labour market institutions. He was one of the delegates of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to the 2014 National Conference and Deputy Chairperson of the National Conference on Civil Society, Labour, Youth and Sports.
Comrade Issa Aremu, mni emphasizes on the imperative of industrial peace, social justice and harmonious industrial relations to minimize conflicts that impede productivity. Productivity promotion and improvement remains the central theme of most his union’s educational programmes.
In 2008, through his effort, the textile union partnered with the National Productivity Centre for zonal workshop on work ethics and productivity improvement for shoopfloor and branch executives members in Kano. Similarly, the union has partnered with a number of other development partners notably, the Fredrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) to organize workshops on capacity development and skill acquisition for members in informal sector. Comrade Aremu is a globally acknowledged worthy ambassador of trade union movement. He is currently Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Executive Member of IndustriALL Global Union with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland as well as Chairman of the African Region of the global union. He is the Secretary General of the Alumni Association of the National Institute, AANI.
He is a signatory to several agreements on conditions of work and welfare in Nigeria and globally. The Pan African comrade is also a renowned Author with the following publications; Defining the Context of Workers’ Education and Capacity Building for Trade Unions in Nigeria (2007), Tears Not Enough (2005), Collapse of Textile Industry in Nigeria: Implications for Employment and Poverty Eradication (2005) and The Crises of Pricing Petroleum Products in Nigeria (2001) and The Social Relevance of Trade Unionism (2001), with Reflection series on Labour and Trade Unions; Industry and Economy; Media and Gender Issues; Friends, Comrades and Heroes; and Good Governance and Democracy. He holds B.Sc (Hons) degree in Economics from the University of Port Harcourt and Master degree in Labour and Development from the Institute for Social Studies, Netherlands. He is a member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Course 27 in 2005. He is happily married with children.
LABOUR CREATES WEALTH
In line with the Motto of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that “Labour Creates Wealth”, Comrade Issa Aremu strongly believes that Nigeria can be part of the 20 leading economies in 2020 through productivity improvement in which the working people are properly motivated to drive development.