The Minister of Labour and
Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has asked workers to disregard the call by Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC) for a one- day national protest on Monday.
Ngige made the call in a
statement issued by Mr Nwachukwu Obidewe, his Special Assistant on Media, in
Abuja on Friday, saying the directive by the NLC President, Mr Ayuba Waba, that
workers protest on Monday, May 13, 2019, was unlawful.
“The calling out of workers on a
flimsy and selfish excuse of non-inauguration of the board of the Nigerian
Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) with Comrade Frank Kokori as the Chairman
did not constitute a trade dispute as contained in the Labour Act.
“The issue in question is
political. It is about the exclusive right of the president of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria to make an appointment.
“This is clearly outside the
purview of the Trade Union and Trade Disputes Act, hence imperative for workers
to go about their normal businesses.
“It is important to state here
that every worker is supposed to put in eight hours of work per day for five days
in a week in line with the ILO Convention.
“Therefore, using the office
hours for such protest without the approval of the employers is unlawful, ‘’the
minister said.
He added that the 40 hours a week
which the Nigerian workers subscribed to should be used for productive
ventures, especially in view of the new National Minimum Wage and the
consequential financial adjustments.
The minister said that the
directive by the NLC to workers to attack him and his family members anywhere
they were sighted was a criminal offence.
Ngige said he was already taking
necessary legal action regarding the labour leader’s threat.
He stressed that the minister
remained the competent authority in all issues concerning labour in Nigeria.
Ngige added that this included external
relations in line with the ILO Convention and pointed out that
internationalising what was clearly the exclusive right of the president on
political appointment was unpatriotic.
The minister and labour leaders
have been quarrelling over the appointment of Kokori, a labour leader, as
Chairman of NSITF board.
While labour insists that Kokori
must chair the board based on an earlier announcement, the minister thinks
otherwise.
The disagreement had caused
labour leaders to invade the residence of the minister on Wednesday.
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