FG inaugurates committee to resolve Kaduna govt, NLC dispute

The Federal Government has inaugurated a 10-man committee to end the disagreement between the Kaduna State government and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The Deputy Director in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who disclosed this in a statement on Saturday, said the committee was inaugurated by the Minister, Chris Ngige, in Abuja.

The committee is headed by a Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Peter-Yemira Tarfa.

While the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government, Balarabe Lawal and Deputy President of NLC, Najim Hashim, are the co-chairmen.

The Director, Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs. O. U. Akpan, will serve as secretary.

 

Ngige recalled that the federal government had in May intervened in the dispute between the Kaduna State government and NLC with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to restore peace in the state.

He urged members of the committee to meet President Muhammadu Buhari’s expectations by ensuring that industrial peace returns to the state.

The minister, who gave the committee 21 days to submit its report, noted that downsizing or rightsizing of the workforce in any organisation, government or private sector was a redundancy issue which must be subjected to the principles spelt out in the Trade Disputes Act and Laws of the Federation 2004.

He said: “The law says in Section 20(A) that in the event of redundancy, every employer shall inform the trade unions or representatives of workers concerned about the reasons for or the extent of their anticipated redundancy.

READ ALSO: NLC threatens to resume strike in Kaduna
 

“Section 20(B) also says that the principles of last-in-first-out shall be adopted in the discharge of the category of workers affected, subject to all factors of relative merit including skill, ability and any reliability.

“So, in applying this, we must subject it to the relativity of merit, skill, ability and reliability. If somebody has a forged certificate, he should be asked to go because he didn’t merit the job in the first instance.

“If you go to a nursing home and find somebody working in the ward with a Bachelor’s degree in History, he stands disqualified because he doesn’t have the skill in the first place.

“He has to go. So, these are the qualifications that must be noted in this principle of last in, first out. It is not absolute. It has exceptions and qualifications.”

The NLC had in May embarked on a five-day warning strike in Kaduna over the sack of several civil servants by the state government.

The congress suspended the strike three days later after the federal government intervened in the dispute between the two parties.

 

 

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