By Abiola Olawale
A former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ali Ciroma has passed away at the age of 90 years.
It was gathered that Ciroma breathed his last at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri, Borno State capital, on Tuesday.
A family member, who is also the Secretary of the Borno State Council, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ali Ibrahim Ciroma, announced the death of the veteran unionist in a statement on Tuesday.
“It is with deep sorrow that I announce the death of Comrade Ali Ciroma, former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“The sad event occurred this evening (Tuesday, April 2) at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
“The burial for the repose of the deceased will be held tomorrow Wednesday 4 pm at the residence of the deceased No.7A along Galadima Road near Muhammadu Shuwa Memorial Hospital (Nursing Home), Maiduguri”, the statement reads.
The New Diplomat reports that Ciroma was NLC president from 1984-1988 during Ibrahim Babagida’s military regime.
He was forced out of the position by the military government when it dissolved the union in 1988. During Abacha’s regime, he was brought back into labour matters as the sole administrator of NUPENG.
Ciroma spent his early years in Maiduguri, Borno State. He attended Yerwa Elementary School and Borno Middle School (1945 -1949). He trained as a medical field assistant and worked in Jalingo and Mubi. In 1977, he became the principal School of Health Technology, Maiduguri. Chiroma joined trade unionism at the age of seventeen and was president of the Rural Health Workers Union in 1960. In 1978, after many smaller trade unions coalesced into forty-two industrial unions, Ciroma became deputy president of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria. At the NLC congress in 1981, he was voted as the union’s deputy president. He was voted president in 1984, succeeding Hassan Sunmonu.
