Bimbola Oyesola
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed its readiness to shut down Ogun State on Tuesday, March 5, through a massive peaceful protest that will paralyse major activities in the state.
The NLC said this was in the fulfillment of the decision of the 12th National Delegates Conference of the Congress in February on the alleged anti labour stance of Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said it was also in response to the governor’s threat that he would disgrace NLC should it go ahead with the planned protest.
He said: “The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has taken cognizance of a statement credited to the Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun, where he threatened to disgrace the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress if the Congress insists on embarking on a protest scheduled for Tuesday March 5, 2019 in Ogun State. This was reported by Premium Times on 1st March 2019 and other platforms.”
Wabba said: “The decision of the 12th National Delegates Conference of the NLC to confront and engage governor Amosun would be carried out to the letter on Tuesday, March 5, 2019.”
According to the NLC boss, issues against the Ogun state governor include, “the non-remittance of statutory deductions from workers’ salaries for pensions, cooperative, ileya, Christmas etc. over a period of one hundred and five (105) months;
“The non-utilization of the last tranche of the Paris Club refund for the payment of gratuity for both state and local government workers since 2013 despite signing a collective bargaining agreement with organized labour in Ogun State;
“The refusal to pay workers at the Tai Solarin College of Education salary arrears that has accumulated for the past 10 years and now grosses to a financial liability of about N9 billion; and
“To make matters worse, Governor Amosun sacked the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress from his employment for standing firm in the defence of the rights of workers in Ogun State.”
Wabba, who said NLC had taken note of the threat by Amosun, said that the threats would not deter them from defending the interest of workers in Ogun State.