Tina George, Minna
The Niger state deputy governor, Yakubu Garba has said that the Organized Labour in the state is not weakened in any way because he is the deputy governor.
Apparently referring to insinuations that the state NLC cannot take a stand on its own, Garba said that the Organized Labour in the state is still a hard rock to reckon with which cannot be cracked or washed over.
It would be recalled that the deputy governor was the immediate past state NLC Chairman.
Speaking at the Niger state House of Assembly which was the designated end point of the Day 1 NLC Protest in Niger state, the deputy governor stated that Organized Labour is the sincere driver of government policies and is on the ground to check the excesses of the government.
“I am here as a Nigerlite and a member of the NLC. Some people believe that when I left the cycle for sabbatical, they assumed that is the end of Labor in Niger state but shame on them. Today, the support we are giving to the leadership of the Organized Labour has proven that the Organized Labor in Niger state is still a hard rock to reckon with. They cannot be cracked or washed over.”
The Niger state deputy governor also advised the NLC to pursue the upward review of the minimum wage with vigor saying that palliatives should be a secondary issue as palliatives cannot be sustained forever.
In Niger state, the protest began from the Labour House along the IBB road to the state House of Assembly in Minna.
The Niger State NLC Chairman, Comrade Idris Lafene, and the TUC Chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Gana led over 1,060 participants comprising members of Organized Labour and Civil Society Organizations.
Reading the demands, the Niger state NLC Chairman, Comrade Idris Lafene said that the state workers are demanding N50,000 as salary pending the upward review of the minimum wage, palliatives for students, women, and people in the state, and the upward review of the pension of pensioners.
The Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji assured the NLC that the Legislators have deliberated on motions urging the state government to increase the salaries of workers across the state and to provide palliatives to cushion the effects of the removal of fuel subsidy on the people.
He said that the government is working on the resolutions passed by the Assembly and that the government is putting mechanisms in motion to reduce the suffering of the people.
