Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that Nigeria’s organised labour movement was once financed by foreign intelligence agencies, warning that the development exposed the country’s labour system to external influence and posed serious risks to national sovereignty.
Obasanjo made the disclosure during the 85th birthday celebration and public presentation of the memoir of former Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Hassan Sunmonu, titled Memoirs of an African Trade Union Icon: Organise, Don’t Agonise. The event, attended by labour leaders, policymakers and civil society actors, became a wider reflection on the evolution of trade unionism in Nigeria.
According to Obasanjo, during the Cold War era Nigeria’s labour space was dominated by two major labour organisations that, although Nigerian in name, were allegedly funded and influenced by rival global power blocs. He said one faction received backing from the Soviet Union’s KGB, while the other was supported by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
“As far as you remember, when Goodluck was leading one of the two major labour [groups] then Adebola, these two labour organisations were Nigerian, but they were not organised or funded by Nigeria,” Obasanjo said.
“One was being financed by the KGB and the other by the CIA. That was the reality.”
He explained that this situation motivated him, while serving as military Head of State, to reform the labour movement and shield it from foreign control by ensuring it was organised, funded and managed by Nigerians.
“I needed a Nigerian labour union organised by Nigeria, controlled by Nigeria and financed by Nigeria,” he said, noting that the reform process was led by Justice Adebiyi.
Obasanjo recalled that Sunmonu initially questioned his involvement in labour reforms but said the process ultimately resulted in the restructuring of trade unions and the establishment of the Nigeria Labour Congress as a unified national body.
“When Justice Adebiyi finished his job and we reformed the labour law establishing the NLC, they elected their leader without government interference, and Hassan became the first elected president. I felt comfortable,” Obasanjo said.
Sunmonu, who led the NLC from 1978 to 1984, is regarded as a key figure in modern Nigerian trade unionism. Obasanjo praised him for maintaining labour’s credibility and for advancing Nigeria’s labour movement on the continental and global stage, describing him as the most influential labour leader after the late Pa Michael Imoudu.
The former president also noted that the introduction of a compulsory check-off system ensured sustainable union funding and permanently eliminated foreign financial influence from Nigeria’s labour movement.
At the event, current NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, used the platform to strongly criticise prevailing economic policies, new tax laws and Nigeria’s rising public debt. He warned that excluding organised labour from key policy decisions was deepening poverty and undermining democratic governance.
Ajaero argued that the philosophy behind Sunmonu’s memoir, Organise, Don’t Agonise, contrasted sharply with current realities, accusing government authorities of choosing “enrage over engage.”
“Tax laws that tax the national minimum wage and impose heavier burdens on workers and the poor are not progressive but regressive,” he said, adding that labour was deliberately excluded from the Presidential Committee on Tax.
He also questioned Nigeria’s growing debt profile, asking, “Where are all the monies being borrowed by the federal government?”
Ajaero warned that sidelining labour, distorting legislation and ruling through coercion eroded public trust and threatened national stability. He called for deeper engagement with trade unions, the immediate constitution of the PENCOM board, restraint in implementing new tax laws and urgent attention to workers’ wages ahead of the next minimum wage negotiations.
Describing Sunmonu as a symbol of courage and principled leadership, Ajaero said the book launch had become a moment of national reflection on the plight of Nigerian workers.
“We will continue to organise, challenge power and fight for a Nigeria where no worker has to agonise over poverty, insecurity, heavy taxation or a stolen future,” he said.
Efforts to obtain official government reactions to the issues raised were unsuccessful as of press time.
