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NLC tackle Okorocha, say you can’t force workers into farming

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Crisis of integrity hunts Okorocha’s govt

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, cannot force workers in the state into farming.

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, stated this in Abuja, while also describing the Imo State government’s three-day work and two-day farming for workers policy as forced labour.

According to Wabba, the policy which implied forcefully sending workers to farm was against the International Labour Organisation Convention and also against the rules and procedures in service.

He said: “First, we have condemned in very strong terms what the Imo State governor tries to do by forcefully sending workers to the farm.

“Don’t forget that the public service rule is very clear about what trade a worker can actually do to add to his normal routine services.

“It provided that on your own volition, you can join farming as part of your normal routine activities, and that is allowed by law.

“But to criminally now go to the state House of Assembly and pass a law overnight without public hearing and without consultation is against the ILO convention; it is against our rules and procedure in service.

“To say that you want to force workers compulsorily to go into farming two days a week is the height of not even understanding how governance or how public service is run.

“I am sure that is condemnable.’’

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The NLC President argued that what the Imo State government is doing is different from what is obtainable in other states, where civil servants are encouraged to engage in farming voluntarily.

“What the governor is doing is forced labour; we are not slaves. Even under slavery, you cannot force a worker to work against his volition.

“Employment is a contract between the employer and the employee and therefore, there are rules of engagement. Even what you earn is through a collective bargaining process; it cannot be imposed or forced on you.’’

Accordingly, Wabba said that by the NLC directive, the law had been made ineffective, as workers had ignored it and continued with their work normally.

“How can you, for instance, ask a teacher not to go to school to teach pupils for two days a week? Or a health practitioner be given a particular date as disease doesn’t give a notice?

“You don’t give notice before you fall sick. So at the time when you are going to farm, an epidemic can actually come up; how you can address all of these?

“Or you want to put two standards in place; you ask one category of workers to come to work three days a week and another category to go to farm.

“That is not done; there are better ways to do that; he can encourage farmers; he can allocate lands and give them fertiliser and give them other incentives.

“You can put laws in place and encourage workers to go into farming; but not through a very cruel process of working against the law and forcing them to go to farm which is against our law and against our convention.’’

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews…

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