naijalatest - There are people who never feel an inch of being criticized in fact they enjoy been that way. And one of such is the Kaduna state governor el-Rufai. This time the Governor Mallam Nasir el-Rufai has lashed out openly at the organised labour in the country, which he said has destroyed the nation more than it has contributed to it. He never says anything without proof and when he says something, look critically well, there must be something to analyse. Mallam Nasir-El-Rufai Speaking, who made this known yesterday in Abuja at a ‘Governance Matters’ round table which was solely organised by the Development Alternative Incorporation, DAI. According to him, the excesses of the trade unions must be curtailed and checkmated if not they will wreck havoc on the emerging country. But could he be saying te truth? One time he was accused of destroying homes in Abuja then while he was the FCT Minister. But at the long run, he was justified. Let's read on and see what he meant.

Labour tells el-Rufai You're embarrassment to public office

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He said, “Trade Unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow and selfish interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed. “The mistake we made as a country was placing trade unions in the Exclusive Legislative List. If the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has an issue with the Federal Government, then the state universities will go on strike too. In Kaduna, I warned the Kaduna State University, that if ‘you ever go on strike again because of somebody else, I will fire all of you.’ Advocates “very low” minimum wage “I think we need to do some things. First, take labour matters out of the Exclusive List because many of us are victims of agreements reached with ASUU by the Federal Government.

The states were never part of such agreements. Secondly, is the issue of minimum wage. Except we set a very low minimum wage, there will continue to be issues especially with states that do not have wide tax net. You cannot set the same minimum wage for Lagos and Jigawa. Also, we must apply the labour laws strictly. No work, no pay, because there has to be a trade dispute before anything strike. That is what the law says. “I think the health unions have been the most irresponsible because only an irresponsible doctor will abandon his patients even after swearing to the Hippocratic Oath. I think Nigerian doctors are the only ones on the planet that go on strike. “We have submitted our report on true federalism and it will be taken to the National Assembly. We hope the National Assembly will stop dealing with inanities and deal with the real issues,” he said. The governor also accused some past governors of Yobe and Borno states of being responsible for the emergence of the Boko Haram sect due to their negligence of the education sector. “We tended to have ignored this problem (of out of school children) but this problem, when ignored, gave us Boko Haram.

If you look at education statistics in Yobe and Borno in 2003 and 2004, you will reasonably predict that Boko Haram would happen within a decade. So, this is a huge problem”.

Now let's categorically analyse this. Has he said anything out of place? Did he say anything that goes contrary to what is onground? Ofcoure if you actually look at the constant strike being embarked by ASSU, you begin to see political play in it. There is an issue with federal universities and the federal schools, it affects the states schools. Why and i ask again why? If actually the various past governors of yobe state and borno state had adressed the issues of child basic education, there would never would have been boko haram.
Now let's see what the reaction of Labour Union.

The Nigeria Labour Union did not take it a gentle man's way at all after publicly tagging the governor as an embarrassment to public office in Nigeria. They went further to describe him as anti-people and a chameleon. Hmmm...... Well, if it was what he just said that have made him a chameleon, we will find out. Just read on.

According to the General Secretary of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, who said that the Congress was not caught surprised by what were credited to the Kaduna state governor because he had been an anti-labour person with penchant for breaking the labour laws of the land from his days as a minster of FCT. He Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson said: “The country has a better moral standing than the likes of el-Rufai who has demonstrated that he is not fit to hold public office or political position.

He is an embarrassment to public office in Nigeria. He speaks out of both sides of the mouth. He always changes position for his personal aggrandizement. This is the same el-Rufai who once gate-crashed into one of NLC’s protests and pleaded to have NLC apron to be part of the protest.”
Woah. Is this true? Well, one should not be surprised despite because we have come to understand that in politics, friends are not permanent but interests are. El-rufai just demonstrated that. Same union he is blasting now, was very instrumental in his coming to power as governor.

in a Similar vein, the President of United Labour Congress of Nigeria, ULC, Joe Ajaero, who also made his contribution known to the press when he said: “Malla El-rufai is anti-progress, anti-people and does not see any good in something progressive. If el-Rufai praises anybody, know that such a person is about to die. He prefers money to human beings as he has demonstrated in Kaduna. We are not surprised at his views. We want to know if he is speaking for the APC government or for himself. His comments are challenges to labour movement. “If he is speaking about the civil servants in the state, he can say whatever he likes. But he cannot generalize, if he does, we will take him on. We will make him to eat his words. People like him have their places in history. His will not be different. He is who is he is. Mr Ajaero went further to say that He could not have said anything different. He has a history of inflicting pains on the masses. He did so when he was the FCT minister and he is presently exhibiting same in Kaduna as governor.”

I think that at this time, we should be mindful of words. Yes, because for what the governors have said, there might be fight back from the union just to show off how powerful they could and trust me, the governor won't loose sleep over it. The poor masses on the street will be the ones to suffer for it. If the union have read the lines of his comments on their activities with an objective view, then they too will realise that he speaks the truth. If Mr el-elrufai too have understood what the union stand for, he would not have opted for then total removal of the Labour union from the executive legislators list.

Source >>> naijalatest

Disgrace you mean?

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