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•Urges Lagos govt to obey court order on RTEAN
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has kicked against alleged plans by the Federal Government to privatise and commercialise some public institutions, including the Federal Medical Centres, the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The TUC president, Festus Osifo, while briefing the press after the Congress’s Central Working Committee (CWC) and National Executive Council (NEC) meetings in Abuja at the weekend, said Organised Labour would not accept the move because similar actions in the past did not yield any positive results.
He said: “We wish to reiterate that it is a no to the privatisation of the Federal Medical Centres. That for us, it is not something that we will tolerate, because all most of the privatisation that have taken place in our dear country have been an exercise where friends of those government were rewarded. So for us, we say no to such privatisation.
“In similar breath, we also say no to the privatization of the transmission Company of Nigeria because if you have privatized the generation companies, you have privatised the distribution companies, and today they are performing at this sub optimal level. What is the rationale to tell the Nigerian people that you are going ahead to also privatise the Transmission Company of Nigeria? So for us, it is also a no.
On NIPOST, Osifo asked that the Federal government halt the distribution of 8 billion Naira, which he claimed had been released for the asset unbundling of the agency, until the new administration takes over.
According to the Labour leader, “Recently, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr Pantami came out and said that they are going to dismantle NIPOST and strip it of it’s assets. I wonder and the Congress wonders why is it that when government cannot manage a particular establishment, the first thing that they do is to strip it of its assets? Who are they going to give these assets to? We have been wondering and we say no no to this. It is fundamentally not correct because NIPOST is a national asset. They should go to different parts of the world and see how the National Postal Offices services are being managed. Look at them all over the world. Look at how they are being managed. But, in Nigeria, we are quick to strip them of their assets. We say no to this.
“And we’ve learned that recently, the Ministry of Finance released the some of 8billion Naira to completely pull these assets down and strip it of its relevance and the major part of this money is being given to the companies that will manage those assets and only a paltry sum of about 600 million Naira is being given to Nigerian Postal Service. Why should we be engaging in this in the twilight of this administration? This administration is winding down in the next few weeks they are gone. So we hereby, call on government not to disburse that money, to keep the money. Keep everything intact. When the next administration comes, we will start having deliberations with them because if they go ahead, they will have Nigeria workers to contend with.”
He asserted the nation’s assets should be its precious jewel and that everything possible should be done to protect it and make it functional.
Osifo, further called on the Lagos state government to immediately implement the ruling of the national industrial court which nullified the the establishment of Garage Caretaker Committee and ordered the immediate reinstatement of the operations of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in the state.
“Few months ago, we observed that a lot of states most especially in the southwest, against the law, against regulation were banning the RTEAN that is an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and in doing this, they brought in some touts to start managing the affairs of road transport in their states. We know that part of the considerations were because of the election and it’s attendant effect. We have rejected this before and we are rejecting it again.
“We had such issues in a states like Lagos, in a states like Oyo, in a states like Ekiti and we say it is a no, because RTEAN is an establishment of the law, and the law must be respected. Just recently, there was a pronouncement of a court, ordering the Lagos state government to return the management of the road transport activities to RTEAN and we hereby enjoin the Lagos state government to immediately implement that court judgement, because we are a nation that is governed by the rule of law.” He added
