NLC, TUC Threaten To Sue National Assembly

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have threatened to sue the National Assembly for transfering labour matters from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list, owing to perceived dwindling revenues accruing to the country.

Nigeria Labour Congress

The Ekiti State chapter of the organised labour has urged the trade centres in Abuja to file a court action against the National Assembly, ThisDay reports.

The NLC Chairman, Ayodeji Aluko and his counterpart in the TUC, Kolawle Olaiya, speaking on the matter in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, contended that such step if realizable would spell doom for the welfare of workers and derail the delivery of democracy to the populace.
Olaiya personally called on the trade centres to team up against the National assembly anti-workers decision and filed a suit against them in line with Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, which places premium on fundamental human rights.

Speaking also, Aluko, who condemned the National Assembly’s move, remarked that it would be counter-productive for the federal lawmakers to resort to anti-workers policy at this crucial period, when every sector of the nation’s economy is looking for attention.

“This policy will spell doom for the labour and for our democracy because the labour play critical roles in the delivery of the dividends of democracy to Nigerian citizens. I want to point out that some states are yet to comply with the N18,000 National Minimum Wage despite that it was on the exclusive list. This is an exploitative move against labour and we will resist it. The National Assembly must be wary of the fact that it is in their own interest as well to protect the rights of labour as citizens of the country for sustainable peace. But a situation whereby the country  is made to witness  industrial crisis everyday, may derail governance and that is where the policy will take us to,” Aluko said.

The NLC chairman further assured that the body, up to the national level would be pragmatic in dealing with the situation. He said they would not accept a situation whereby workers are made to be at the mercy of the state governors, who will determine what they get and when to get it, promising that they would protect their collective destiny from being bastardised.

Aluko said the labour union would not hesitate to embark on strike if that is the only solution to resolve this crisis, adding that they would not look back at all because they are the engine room of democracy and should not be taken for granted.

The TUC boss, who expressed optimism that the National Assembly was being misguided by the action, alleged that the federal lawmakers were allegedly hiding under the nose-diving revenues accruing to the country’s coffers to execute evil against labour.

“My advice would be that we will enforce our fundamental rights in court. We have to challenge this obnoxious policy  through litigation,” Olaiya said.