By Godwin Amunde
The Progressive Governors Forum, PGF, an umbrella body of Nigerian governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has urged Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State to return to the negotiation table with Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to prevent the ongoing strike from crippling the states economy.
Gov. Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state who is the Chairman of the forum said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
The statement reads: The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has been following unfolding development between Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Kaduna State Government over the issue of rightsizing Local Government employees with deep concerns. Noting all the challenges facing all our states, especially given dwindling revenue, we appeal to all patriotic Nigerians, including the NLC, to demonstrate more commitment toward engaging governments at all levels to address problems. This is not the time for muscle flexing.
Nigerians are already overstretched with many challenges. At this critical point of our democratic journey, there cannot be limits to engagement between all governments and citizens. Every step must be therefore taken to resolve the current faceup between Kaduna State Government and NLC. We appeal to both the State Government and NLC to return to the negotiating table.
In particular, we want to appeal to the NLC leadership to recognise that the burden of leadership at this point is more about responding to challenges based on the honest disposition of correcting past mistakes. As Progressive Governors, we share the vision of Kaduna State Government of reforming all our Local Governments to make them more efficient and consequently the pivot of critical development initiatives. At the same time, we want to appeal to Kaduna State Government under the leadership of our colleague, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to take all the necessary step to ensure the resolution all disagreements in the larger interest of citizens in Kaduna State.
We are confident that both Kaduna State Government and NLC will resolve all outstanding issues and restore industrial harmony in Kaduna State.
