Posted by By Bimbola Oyetoro on
Given a choice, she would have loved to be a pharmacist, but unfortunately, she never got that opportunity.
Given a choice, she would have loved to be a pharmacist, but unfortunately, she never got that opportunity. She missed the opportunity because of the preference given to the male children in her time. But today, Comrade Nkiruka Peace Obiajulu has no regrets. She actually moves where a man falters.
As she takes you to her roots, telling you about her numerous encounters, you find that right from secondary school, she has always been a voice for the voiceless. Her dreams, however, came true on February 6, 2004 at Gateway Hotel in Abeokuta when she was declared the first female President General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the umbrella body of Senior Staff Associations in Nigeria.
Obiajulu, by virtue of her new position, is the first woman to occupy the leadership of an apex body of this kind in Africa. Below, she tells her story.
Early life
I am the first daughter in a family of six children. I am married to a retired army officer and we have four children. I grew up in Onitsha where you have a lot of children in a compound and that is why I mix easily with people. In fact, I am an extrovert. I had both elementary and secondary education in Onitsha and I am from Anambra State. I was not born with silver spoon in my mouth but I was born to know that whatever you are is what you achieve through the grace of God. I also learnt that nothing is achieved on a platter of gold.
Education
After my secondary education I wanted to be a pharmacist. But like the girls in my time, I was not given that preference of going to the university, because in our society they felt it was better to train the boys instead. Since my father was not a millionaire, he was prevailed upon to train his brother's sons who would take care of the family in future. As for me, the option was that I would be given out in marriage. So, I opted to do nursing which was free of charge.
I remembered that when I went for the interview then, one of the panelists looked at my result and said, ‘Oh my God what are you doing in the nursing profession when you have a division 1.' I just smiled,
I didn't answer. He asked if I wanted to opt out. I said no, that I wanted to do nursing. I didn't want to tell him that my parents could not take care of me in the university. There was also no counseling at that point so I settled for what I could.
Life as a nurse
I attended the School of Nursing, UCH, Ibadan. In those days, UCH was popular and respected. I therefore became grateful to God for that opportunity and it has been of immense support to my immediate family and everyone I came across. It was also what prepared me for this trade Unionism that I have been involved in. After the training in Nursing I had to do my midwifery. I also started work briefly at the UCH before going to join my husband in kaduna. I was there for six months and he was posted out. So, I came back to Lagos where I worked with a private hospital.
I was there till 1981 and decided to go back to school for a degree course. "I was encouraged by my principal in school, who once told me, "don't waste your talent, don't waste the result God has given you, and promise me you would do your Bsc. So, with that at the back of my mind I went in to do my B.Sc. and I graduated in 1984. I did my youth service and got a job with NITEL in 1988. In addition, I attended a series of in-house training in courses like family planning, computer literacy as well as trade unionism, which took me outside the country.
Trade Union
I wouldn't really say that I saw anybody as a role model. I always found myself coming in when there is a crisis. I recall that when I was in secondary school there was this new policy that the senior ones should not plait their hair. They were to cut it. Personally, I wasn't plaiting mine because my hair was very stubborn. But my argument was that why should they ask them not to plait theirs while other schools permitted it. So, I joined those that fought against that policy.
Even when I got to the school of nursing I found myself fighting for the interest of others. Same thing happened when I joined the association of nurses but all these were ad hoc things. I was never an executive of any of these groups until I joined NITEL. At that point it was a colleague of mine who asked them to nominate someone to represent the medical staff.
When I resumed work that afternoon she came to me and said: "I see you as somebody who can fight for us if they are cheating those of us in medical. So, that was how I joined. I must confess that at that initial stage it was rather tough. I had to go and pick my children in school and after the meetings I would find my way home with the children. They were also very inquisitive, asking questions like, Mummy what is going on? What are you people doing? Or what is going on?
From representing my medical unit I went on to become the treasurer in 1991. I held that position for two terms that is six years and became the president of the branch, NITEL /NIPOST. Of course, Nitel/Nipost is a branch of SSAUSCGOC. While I was the president I emerged as deputy president of the main body and after a year and half I became the acting President General in 2001. That same year I was confirmed President General and so I had to relinquish the presidency of the branch association.
I also recall that I contested for Deputy President General but lost by two or three votes. When I was called to serve in the CWC as women coordinator, I didn't see it as something small. I felt I should contribute my quota because the most important thing is the organisation. I think an organisation is bigger than any individual.
I was there till this last election .It was during that period that we all interacted together and when the campaign started things worked smoothly. I really thank God for the lives of some TUC members, who came together and decided that rather than going to the battle field, we should be able to resolve our differences and go as a team.
Challenges
Everything in life has its own challenge. First, you have the challenge of being a family woman and you have to share your time judiciously so that you can participate in labour activities. This is because we are dealing with lives and not sticks. If anyone is in need and is not helped at that month it is tough because it could be a life and death issue. Luckily my children, executives and secretaries have been very cooperative. They never saw me as a ‘woman'. We all talk as comrades.
In trade unionism, you have so many challenges. For instance, when I was in Nitel, workers salary was slashed and we protested. The SSS came looking for us and that has always been the pattern. Usually, we start meetings at 7pm and we don't close till about 5am. There was a day I had the intention of spending two days in Abuja but I ended up spending eight days with the same set of clothes. You know that with men it doesn't really matter.
Usually, I can't really plan my day. I gave some people appointment for Monday but you see I won't be around on Monday because something has come up. We have an interactive session with NRC. My time depends on the call of duty. Any opportunity I have to be at home I use it very well. Luckily, I don't have any child at home, three of them are in the university while the baby of the family is in SS2.
Awards
I have received two awards as African achiever of the year in May, 2003 from African International magazine and the women gold award in November of that same year. Of course the recent award is from the TUC. They gave me award for all that I have done so far to uplift TUC but that was before the election. My predecessor in office has done well, but we need to fight for the democratisation or registration of TUC. TUC should be seen as a labour centre during my tenure and we would be seen as fighting for justice, which is the most important thing. We must fight for justice especially for the down trodden.
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