Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State governor, has accused organised labour in the country, saying it has destroyed the nation more than its contribution to it. Speaking, yesterday in Abuja at a ‘Governance Matters’ roundtable organised by Development Alternative Incorporation, DAI, the governor said the excesses of the trade unions must be curtailed. “Trade Unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed. “The mistake we made as a country was placing trade unions in the Exclusive Legislative List. If the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has an issue with the Federal Government, then the state universities will go on strike too. In Kaduna, I warned the Kaduna State University, that if ‘you ever go on strike again because of somebody else, I will fire all of you.’ “I think we need to do some things. First, take labour matters out of the Exclusive List because many of us are victims of agreements reached with ASUU by the Federal Government. The states were never part of such agreements. Secondly, is the issue of minimum wage. Except we set a very low minimum wage, there will continue to be issues especially with states that do not have wide tax net. You cannot set the same minimum wage for Lagos and Jigawa. Also, we must apply the labour laws strictly. No work, no pay, because there has to be a trade dispute before anything strike. That is what the law says. “I think the health unions have been the most irresponsible because only an irresponsible doctor will abandon his patients even after swearing to the Hippocratic Oath. I think Nigerian doctors are the only ones on the planet that go on strike. “We have submitted our report on true federalism and it will be taken to the National Assembly. We hope the National Assembly will stop dealing with inanities and deal with the real issues,” he said.
The governor also accused some past governors of Yobe and Borno states of being responsible for the emergence of the Boko Haram sect due to their negligence of the education sector. “We tended to have ignored this problem (of out of school children) but this problem, when ignored, gave us Boko Haram. If you look at education statistics in Yobe and Borno in 2003 and 2004, you will reasonably predict that Boko Haram would happen within a decade. So, this is a huge problem”, he said.
Labour reacts
Reacting to the outburst of Governor el-Rufai, organised labour, said the governor was an embarrassment to public office in Nigeria, describing him as anti-people and a chameleon. General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said Congress was not surprised by what were credited to the governor because he had been an anti-labour person with penchant for breaking the labour laws of the land. He said: “The country has a better moral standing than the likes of el-Rufai who has demonstrated that he is not fit to hold public office or political position. He is an embarrassment to public office in Nigeria. He speaks out of both sides of the mouth. He always changes position for his personal aggrandizement. This is the same el-Rufai who once gate-crashed into one of NLC’s protests and pleaded to have NLC apron to be part of the protest.”
Similarly, President of United Labour Congress of Nigeria, ULC, Joe Ajaero, said: “He is anti-progress, anti-people and does not see any good in something progressive. If el-Rufai praises anybody, know that such a person is about to die. He prefers money to human beings as he has demonstrated in Kaduna. We are not surprised at his views. We want to know if he is speaking for the APC government or for himself. His comments are challenges to labour movement. “If he is speaking about the civil servants in the state, he can say whatever he likes. But he cannot generalize, if he does, we will take him on. We will make him to eat his words.
People like him have their places in history. His will not be different. He is who is he is. He could not have said anything different. He has a history of inflicting pains on the masses. He did so when he was the FCT minister and he is presently exhibiting same in Kaduna as governor.”
