”NLC leaders were paid to organise protest against my govt.” El-Rufai
Governors allegation laughable NLC
Kaduna State governor, Nasir Ahmed el-Rufa’i, and the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), who recently clashed when the Congress went to the State to protest against the governors mass sacking of workers, are set for a fresh showdown.
El-Rufa’i yesterday alleged that members of the NLC were paid from Abuja to organise the recent protest against his governments right-sizing exercise.
He said, specifically, that he knows those who gave the labour leaders money to organise the protest and that he will soon expose them.
The governor, who declared the protest which shut down electricity and other sectors of the economy in the State as illegal, therefore dared the labour movement to come to Kaduna for a protest.
Reacting to the allegation at the weekend, the Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, who doubles as the General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, said: We cant join issues with a serial liar. It is laughable. Is it that the workers were not sacked by the governor? Is it that he (el-Rufa’i) didnt follow the rules?” he queried.
According to him, “When you see a man who looks at his problems as coming from another person, the person is not worthy to be a man and the head of a family. When you initiate a problem, you should be able to stand it”.
He insisted that, We are still going to Kaduna; he should be ready for us. There is no amount of blackmail that will stop us; because after our visit, he has not implemented all that were agreed upon at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. And he went ahead to sack some members of ASUU.
He can be talking like a parrot, but we are going to deal with him further on these issues. We cant listen to blackmail. Let him release his information, he stated.
Recall that the labour movement had some weeks ago embarked on a 5-day warning strike in Kaduna State, during which supply of petroleum products, electricity and other social services were cut off from the State.
The protesting labour members were, on the second day of the protest, attacked at the popular NEPA roundabout and the protest was disrupted.
However, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, intervened on the third day by inviting the labour and the State government to the negotiation table, a condition which made the labour leaders to suspend the strike.
Meanwhile, el-Rufa’i has consistently said his government cannot continue to spend over 80 percent of its income on payment of salaries.
In a Hausa radio chat, the governor said his government was yet to lay off any worker under the right-sizing exercise, except for political appointees, 99 of whom he has sacked.
