Ø Vows to mobilise workers to the streets;
Ø Says pension retirement plan for workers, not for borrowing
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),has warned that it will not hesitate in mobilising workers nationwide, toprotest any move by state governors to borrow N17 trillion from the pensionfunds, in the name of infrastructural development.
The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, publicly opposed the proposal by the governors led by Chairman of the National Economic Council Adhoc Committee, Nasir el-Rufa’i. He said that the pension fund which was the savings of workers ahead of their retirement from active service, must not be tampered with.
Wabba said this while speaking at the 47th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) yesterday in Abuja. He stressed the state governments don’t have any authority over the money, saying it is largely made up of contributory funds from federal and private sector workers.
The NLC president lamented that with over 18 state governments still delaying implementation of the new national minimum wage, it was unheard of that the same governments would want to borrow the pension money, which is a contributory fund of workers.
According to him, “Pension money is not for borrowing; pension money is in the retirement savings of workers it cannot be borrowed. It is like money in your savings account that nobody can borrow the money from”.
On his part, the National President, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Comrade Biobelemoye Josiah, condemned federal government’s involvement in scuttling strike actions through the use of some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), stressing that workers have legal rights to embark on industrial actions to drive home their demands.
