It is a full-scale altercation in Kaduna State between the governor of the state, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, and the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba. This has led to the latter being declared wanted in the state by the former.
This, as we gather, comes after a protest by members of NLC against certain state policies which affected the workers in the state. According to reports, the protest was embraced by most workers in the state and it has led to several public services been suspended.
Wabba, who led the protest on Monday, May 17, 2021, encouraged union members to join the strike and maintain their stance until the state listens to their demands and go back on the decision to sack 7000 civil servants in the sates. He said:
“The decision has been communicated to all security agencies of the government. It is the beginning of the struggle of labour and we hope our politicians will cooperate with us to ensure we protect our democracy by delivering its dividends to the citizens including workers.
“Organised labour is in Kaduna to tell the world the truth of what the workers, pensioners, students and other citizens in the state are going through besides the lies being peddled by media platforms on El-Rufai’s payroll.
“The situation of the workers in the state is so pathetic that thousands of them have been laid off from their sources of livelihood without the state government making any effort to pay them their entitlements.
“Worst still, El-Rufai has gone further to increase school fees in public state school thereby making the children of those sacked from their working place without payment to become dropouts.
“It is only Kaduna State out of the other states in the country that throws workers out of their jobs without any regards for the labour law and that is why we are here.”
This was said to have angered the governor who accused the Ayuba Wabba and the NLC of sabotaging the economy and led to the NLC president being declared wanted in the state. However, instead of backing down, Comrade Wabba has dared the governor to arrest him as he led the protesting workers towards the government house.
Following the protest, it was reported that nurses were forcefully ejecting patients from hospitals as they sought to join the industrial action. At Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, it was reported that the oxygen supply of a two-month-old baby in an incubator at the Special Baby Care Unit (SBCU) was disconnected.
In response, Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has sacked all the nurses who participated in the NLC labor protest while threatening to extend the ‘favor’ to the Kaduna State University (KASU).
He made the statement through his media adviser, Muyiwa Adekeye, which read in parts:
“The Ministry of Health will dismiss all nurses below GL 14 for going on an unlawful strike. Salaries that could have gone to them are to be given as extraordinary occupational allowances to the health workers who are at their duty posts to fill the gap of those absconding from duty.
“The Ministry of Health has been directed to advertise vacancies for the immediate recruitment of new nurses to replace those dismissed.”
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