Issa Aremu: ‘Comrade-DG’ at 64

A studious interrogation of his educational background, offers some insight into the experiences which crystallised into his latter day exertions as a left-inclined personality and public figure. He studied Economics at the University of Port Harcourt, posting a second class upper performance with honours. He encountered acclaimed radical theorists, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and so on in the course of his studies and research. He was mentored by the famous, radical political economist, Bade Onimode, Emeritus Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, who sadly passed at 57 in 2001, among a cream of other influencers. He would thereafter pursue a career in journalism, opting for the labour beat in a vocation which was undergoing very rapid professionalisation at the time.

The Kano-based Triumph newspapers was his first address back in 1981. It was a milieu during which almost each of Nigeria’s 19 states owned print and electronic media organisations. He thereafter underwent the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), at the upcoming Concord newspapers in Lagos, between 1985 and 1986. He was engaged upon the completion of his NYSC, at the national headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC). He thus became one of the country’s first university graduates employed by the nation’s foremost umbrella association for Nigerian workers. The gravitation of young technocrats like him was thenceforth going to energise the labour superstructure and impact public perception of the labour movement in Nigeria.

Born in Ijagbo in Kwara State, January 8, 1961, Issa Obalowu Aremu’s life is as cosmopolitan as can be imagined. His untiring quest for knowledge has taken him around and about his home country and beyond. He has traversed educational institutions in Ilorin, Kwara State; Zaria, Kaduna State; Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Jos, Plateau State; Maryland in the United States of America, (USA), and The Hague in the Netherlands. The journey of his life has been populated by significant milestones all the way. He headed the Economics and Research Department of the NLC headquarters domiciled in Lagos at the time, between 1987 and 1989. He was on the Senior Executive Course 27 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), graduating in 2005. He would later serve for two terms, 2013 to 2017, as Secretary-General of the Alumni Association of NIPSS, known by the acronym AANI. He was Vice President of the NLC for two terms, stretching from 2007 to 2015.

While on this assignment, Issa Aremu was tapped as a Delegate of the Organised Labour, to the National Conference convened by Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, and was Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Civil Society, Labour, Youths and Sports. Aremu previously described the Conference as “wasteful and diversionary.” He canvassed good governance, in place of talkshops. His perspective was different, however, after his participation in the Conference. He confirmed in a television interview that about 500 recommendations were proposed by the assembly to issues at the heart of the nation, which received concurrence by consensus. He alluded to labour-related issues such as workers’ remuneration; pensions and gratuities; hours of work and maternity duration as some of the issues canvassed by the organised Labour.

On May 18, 2021, Issa Aremu widely known in labour and trade union circles as Comrade, was appointed Director-General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, (MINILS), by the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari. The institute was established by the administration of Nigeria’s Second Republic President, Usman Shehu Shagari, in 1983. It has been suggested that Senate Leader in that era, Olusola Saraki, was largely influential in siting the institution in Kwara State, the charismatic politician’s home state. This tallies with the latter day disposition of the older Saraki’s son, Bukola, governor of Kwara State between 2003 to 2011, who substantially assisted with the construction and modernisation of structures in the institute. MINILS is supervised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. It is headquartered in Ilorin, Kwara State, with a number of regional outposts in select states across the country. Aremu thus became the very first core, career trade and labour practitioner to be appointed to the position.

Aremu has successfully undertaken the renovation of the training block of the institution and installed solar facilities for the supply of energy to the directorate, administrative, training and education blocks, as well as the resource centre of the organisation. From time to time, he rehabilitates the dirt access from the Ajasse-Ipo road approach, to the institution’s main gate, to ensure motorability. The said road is long overdue for asphalt or concrete tarring, both for the convenience of commuters and the health of other users, presently condemned to dangerous, daily dust inhalation. The parent ministry of the institute is reportedly collaborating with its parastatal, MINILS, and the Government of Kwara State to make the perimeters and precincts of the institution much better. Former Senate President, Bukola Saraki and his successor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, were very supportive of the physical development of the institute. They built accommodation facilities and resource infrastructures to augment the evolution of MINILS.

There is, reportedly, continuing tripartite dialogue about how best to relocate illegal vendors and hawkers lining the major approach entrance into MINILS, as soon as feasible. Parties in the talks are said to include the Kwara State Government; the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, and MINILS. The tertiary institution is reputed to be the only such establishment, solely devoted to capacity building for labour and trade unionists on the west coast of Africa. It is imperative to impose more sightly aesthetics around and about the 42 year old institute, both for Nigerian nationals, and potential foreign subscribers and partners. The sprawling beauty into which the older University of Ilorin within the same city as MINILS has evolved into, has become a veritable inspiration for other tertiary institutions in Kwara State. MINILS under Aremu’s leadership last year, successfully hosted the 10th National Labour Summit in its Ilorin facility.

Unknown to many, Issa Aremu is indeed a public scholar with many published works to his credit. These include: The Crises of Pricing Petroleum Products in Nigeria, and The National Union of Textiles, Garments and Tailors, both published in 2001. In 2015, four anthologies of Aremu’s essays were released namely: Reflections on Friends, Comrades and Heroes; Reflections on Industry and Economy; Reflections on Labour and Trade Unions and Reflections on Africa and Global Affairs. The reputable Malthouse Press, in Ibadan did professional justice to the aesthetics of the books. Creative alternative titles, however, should have been deployed to distinguish all four publications which titles begin with the word “Reflections.” Synonyms like “Thoughts,” “Musings,” even “Thinkings” are credible possibilities.

Aremu who still finds time to contribute to issues on the front burner of public discourse, from time to time, had previously functioned as Member, National Executive Council of the NLC and General Secretary, National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, (NUTGTWN). He was Board Member, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, (NSIWC), and Vice President, Industrial Global Union, representing over 50 million members globally. Apart from NIPSS, Aremu was at the Institute for Social Studies, (ISS), The Hague, Netherlands from 1990 to 1991, from where he obtained a masters degree in Labour and Development. He was also at the George Meany Centre of the National Labour College in the United States, in 2003.

Issa Aremu wears an almost permanent smile on his face. He attempted the governorship of Kwara State in 2019, on the platform of the Labour Party, (LP). His endeavours as a Comrade over time have been acknowledged at various times. A Member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, (NIPSS), since 2005, the mni appellation is affixed to his name. He also received the Nigerian Productivity Order of Merit, (NPOM) in 2014, and the Gold Prize Public Service Award in 2024. He enjoys debate and cycling. He is happily married to Khadijat Aremu and blessed with children. His family has attuned to his lifelong career on the frontlines of trade and labour unionism.

Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors (FANA), teaches creative writing at the University of Abuja.