Ngige Meets Buhari over Labour Issues, Insecurity in South-east

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, at the weekend met with President Muhammadu Buhari on some recent labour issues that had led to strikes.
Ngige, in the company of the president’s Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, also briefed Buhari on the challenging security situation in the South-east.

He told journalists in Abuja that he briefed the president on labour issues, including the recent strike embarked upon by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) that paralysed legislative and judicial activities in the country for two months before the strike was called off last week.

He said: “We are going to monitor the agreement. He is very interested in it. And if you remember, he had to do an Executive Order 10 in consonance with the constitution so that we have independence, financial autonomy for the judiciary and the legislature in the states.
“So, it is one of the few things and he was happy that at least the strikes had been called off.”
He added that the recent face-off between the Kaduna State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was also discussed at the meeting with the president, adding that the president warned against another industrial action in Kaduna State.

On the security situation in the South-east, Ngige said: “We also looked at the security situation, especially in my zone, the South-east, and we made some proposal to him, based on the yearnings of the people, and what the government also wants.

“And we are following up with dialogue which at the end of the day is what will happen. We have to talk, we have to discuss. And part of the discussion starts also. The Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior and the service chiefs were in Enugu earlier last Saturday and we are going to do follow-up meetings on that again starting from tomorrow.

“We briefed the president and he accepted that dialogue is the way to go in all these. Like I keep on saying, there is a very thin line between perception and reality; so, certain things should be done, at least to assuage the feelings of the people in the area and make them not feel unwanted so that area was also discussed. ”
Ngige stated that his mission at the State House was to brief the president on developments in the labour ministry with regard to the industrial action embarked upon by some unions.

The leadership of the NLC had complained to Buhari that the Kaduna State government had allegedly refused to obey the terms of agreement reached between the two parties after the federal government through the Minister of Labour and Employment intervened to broker a truce in the industrial dispute between the two.
The minister said it was resolved that there was no need for another industrial disharmony between labour and the Kaduna State Government, especially as the country was faced with serious security challenges.

He added: “We also looked at the Kaduna State Government/Nigeria Labour Congress imbroglio. We have arrested the strikes, we have apprehended them and formed committees for the workers through the NLC and the Kaduna State Government so that they can do some social dialoguing and reconciliation through that route.
“The NLC just five days ago, wrote to Mr. President complaining that the Kaduna State government wasn’t keeping to their own side of the agreement, signed, especially in the area of victimisation of workers, said that the government of Kaduna State has sacked some staff from their workforce for participating in the strike.

“And Mr. President sought advice on it and we’ve transmitted the advice today. So, I and the Chief of Staff have jointly briefed him on that and we are taking action to make sure we don’t have a repeat of what happened in that state, he said that we have already been bedevilled with security issues, we don’t want any more compounding of those issues.”