Okwe Obi, Abuja
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has petitioned the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Nigige and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), over non-licensing of United Labour Congress (ULC) as an independent labour union centre.
In a statement, the National Coordinator of the rights group, Emmanuel Onwubiko, said he wanted the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to impress it upon the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to respect the constitutional provision of freedom of association by granting a license to ULC with immediate effect.
In the petition dated July 1, he accused the NLC of resisting the “democratisation of the trade union movement in Nigeria by conniving with different arms of government to make laws that stultify the right of workers to voluntarism.