You Can’t Blackmail Workers – NLC Taunts Gov el-Rufai
BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kaduna State Wing has declared that no amount of intimidation and underhand tactics by the Kaduna government will deter the Labour movement from protecting the rights of workers in the State.
The Congress’ declaration is against the backdrop of what it described as Governor Nasir el-Rufai-led administration’s ‘cheap blackmail’ and other sinister moves to undermine the successes recorded by its peaceful rally opposing the proposed firing of 21,000 teachers in the state.
Kaduna State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Adamu Ango said in a statement that; “The Labour Movement will never be intimidated and it will indeed continue to play its historical role of the conscience of society and protector of workers’ rights using all means available to its within the confines of the law,”
The statement, which decried government’s insinuation of violence against NLC members as a deliberate attempt to deploy its usual tactics of blackmail, now known to all and sundry, said; “The outdated strategy of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it will not work in the circumstance, as the Labour Movement cannot be cowed and will indeed deploy all lawful and legitimate arsenals as its disposal to resist the unholy attempt to impose the will of an individual against the consensus of an overwhelming majority of Kaduna State citizens (members of the Labour Movement).
According to the statement, it is regrettable that rather than addressing core issues concerning the impasse between it and Labour, the State government as usual, “has resorted to crude propaganda and diversionary tactics by trying to depict a rally organized and attended by the leadership of the entire labour movement in Nigeria as an agitation by 21,000 unqualified teachers.”
The Congress insisted that; “the rally held in Kaduna on 8th November, 2017 was peaceful and same was held in exercise of our members constitutional rights as guaranteed under section 35(1) and 40 of the 1999 constitution, which is the grundnorm and all other laws drives their potency there from. Fortunately, in Kaduna State, similar rights have been exercised in support of the state government’s decision to take external loan without let or hindrance.”
Berating Governor el-Rufai for deliberately ignoring Congress’ recommendations on improving the state’s education system, the statement said recent events have vindicated the NLC’s position urging government to invest the over N10billion expended on the controversial school feeding programme in developing infrastructures and teachers education/retraining.
On the recent NLC’s rally that crippled the government and commercial activities in Kaduna State, the statement denied claims its members were violent during the protest march, even as it maintained that; “The events at the Kaduna state House of Assembly after the rally by the Labour Movement cannot be attributed to the NLC, and same is a replica of the sad events at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, secretariat, Kaduna where supporters of the state government openly attacked law abiding citizens, who were there to address a press conference and unfortunately nobody has been prosecuted or is being prosecuted for their participation in the dastardly act.”
The statement also debunked allegations that the recent street demonstrations by pupils in the State’s public schools were orchestrated by the NLC, saying that as a responsible organization, the Labour Movement is fully in tune with the rules of engagement in fighting for the rights of workers.
