“We strongly reiterate our earlier calls for the silencing, once and for all, of the machines of death in every part of Nigeria. The social trauma, economic displacement and demographic dislocation occasioned by the tributaries of blood flowing through the plains of North East and North West Nigeria foretell foreboding consequences. The spill over from the major theatres of violence in Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna States is also affecting many other states in Nigeria especially states that are in the North Central.”
Author: National Record
For Benue’s working class, the past twenty years, and particularly the last couple of years have been a mix of neglect, despondence and tension in the context of their sheer abandonment by the state. For majority of pensioners, particularly the aged, the situation is akin to hell or purgatory – the period witnessed a harvest of deaths from among the state’s senior citizens who had dedicated their lives to public service at both the level of the state and local governments.
“We commend this united strike and urge that the unions and associations involved not to relent until all demands are met. Should the 7-day [warning strike] expire without any serious and concrete effort by the state government to meet the demands, it should be escalated to a full-blown strike with the active solidarity and support of the Nigeria Labour Congress NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC). This is important to teach the rabidly anti-worker government of Kaduna state led by Mallam El-Rufai a lesson.
“Wages are binding contracts which cannot be unilaterally or arbitrarily reviewed. It is unfortunate that while some states are giving incentives to workers at this time of grave health emergency, in line with global trend, Kaduna State is taking away from workers and pensioners. This is nothing but a full-blown industrial tyranny,” the Labour-Civil Society Situation Room contended.
“The COVID-19 economic crisis is hitting young people – especially women – harder and faster than any other group. If we do not take significant and immediate action to improve their situation, the legacy of the virus could be with us for decades. If their talent and energy is side-lined by a lack of opportunity or skills it will damage all our futures and make it much more difficult to re-build a better, post-COVID economy.”
For the current rulership (not leaders) in the African Union and for the African working class and poor masses in the Pan-African world, celebrating the African Liberation Day (ALD), moreso with the hopeless state of all the nation-states should be a moment to rethink, re-strategise and re-affirm our commitment to the visions, philosophical directions and practical examples articulated and demonstrated by Nkrumah, Cabral and Commandante Fidel.
Oye has turned all rights to privileges, he does whatever he likes without recourse to the constitution, remittance of check off dues is statutory and payment of rebate is also statutory, but Oye has proven to us that it is only remittance of check-off that is statutory but payment of rebate is a privilege. All State Councils still have unpaid 2017 rebate, not to talk of 2020 rebate. We can all see that with Oye, we have entered one chance.
From the national executives to the shop floor members, there seems to be a great conspiracy of silence even when things are falling apart. Everyone decides to go mute to avoid the consequences of speaking. That is why I decided to the theme of messianic complex and how it is affecting us in NUFBTE.
While arguing that the enquiry infringes on the fundamental human rights of Comrade Oyeleke, Abimbola stated that if the union members are aggrieved, the best option available to them or anybody is to “approach the court.” He asked National Record if it was aware that “the Ministry of Labour and Productivity [sic] has an overriding supervisory role over the affairs of all unions in Nigeria,” and that if people are aggrieved, they can make a petition to the minister or approach the National Industrial Court rather than “defaming him [Comrade Oyelekan] and harassing him here and there.”
In the light of the furore, Decree 25 of 1989 was ostensibly believed to have been promulgated to de-register the CEIMSU by amending section eleven (11) of Decree 31 of 1973 to include the staff of these establishments in the list of government establishments precluded from organising into a trade union.