After ten years in the NLC Presidency, what will you want to be remembered for as your contributions to the Labour Movement in Nigeria?
In my campaign manifesto in 1999, I made three commitments, which are interrelated namely: that we shall build an organisation that will take orders from its members, and not from the State House; one that cannot be ignored by government, respected by employers and tested by the members as well as the public. I made these commitments against the background we were coming from where the NLC was seen as a toothless bulldog. I think, several years later, it is clear that nobody can say that the NLC can be taken for granted by government or employers.
For the first time in Nigeria's history, we found a labour group calling on people, including non-salaried Nigerians, and millions respecting our call. Before I became the NLC President, there was this mutual suspicion between the NLC and the civil society and human rights groups. It became clear to me that for the NLC to realise its potentials, it must be able to identify common allies with whom it shared ideals on matters of national importance, in terms of commitment to justice, fairness, the creation of egalitarian society, democracy, good governance to formalise relationship toward the achievement of common goals. Everybody will agree that we network with civil society and that contributed to the effectiveness of the Labour Movement in this period.

You assumed office at about the same time that President Olusegun Obasanjo did. What have been the core values of your engagement with his regime?
Every responsible trade union, not being a political party, represents a particular constituency and tradition. Government is about balancing between all the interests. In every public policy, there are losers and there are winners. In the tradition of a trade union, where the policies are such that the people and the masses will be the losers we oppose them. So, our relationship with the regime is that of an independent trade union that is not politically affiliated. Our attitude has been that of cooperation and contestation. Cooperate on issues that coincide with the interests we represent, and contest every issue that will work against us.
Over all, you have to realise that you have to have a country before you have a trade union and growth. And so, whenever it comes to the corporate interest of Nigeria, you don't compromise that. What may differ is how government responds to contestation. On a number of occasions, we have found ourselves being dragged to court by government, being persecuted by police for unlawful assembly. Some of these cases are still pending in magistrate courts. It took a long engagement before the government realised that we were committed to deep values dear to our heart on which we would not compromise. We are emerging from a military rule. The military instinct, style, and structure are still quite strong in government. And of course we have a president who has a military background.
That training will always find expression in his style and how he seeks to deal with what he considers as a challenge to his authority. By our training, you mobilise your members to defeat a policy that you consider injurious to your group. You don't mobilise to defeat the policy maker. That is where we are different from political parties. Some are saying, why would you put down the head of the government, hold them down, just when you can finished them you let them escape. Now, if you defeat the government, will you replace it? The best that happens is a rival political group comes in, which does not represent your class interest. You fight to change policy or change the shape of policy, not to change government