Victor EzejaBishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Rev. Matthew Kukah, has called on organised labour to defer their planned shutdown of Imo State over unresolved issues related to workers until after the governorship election scheduled for Saturday, November 11, 2023.
Prime Business Africa reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) had at the end of their joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Tuesday, November 7, issued a communique ordering their members in Imo State to withdraw their services starting from midnight, over various infractions on workers which culminated in the attack on NLC president, Conrade Joe Ajero, during a peaceful protest last week.
The communique signed by Comrade Adewale Adeyanju and Comrade Festus Osifo, Deputy President NLC and President TUC respectively, ordered workers in all sectors both private and public to down tools. The communique also stated that “All flights into and out of Imo state, fuel supplies and Electricity be stopped immediately as applicable.”
It added that if their demands are still unmet, “workers all over the federation shall join in withdrawing their services by Midnight Tuesday, the 14th of November, 2023.”
READ ALSO: NLC, TUC Orders Immediate Withdrawal Of Services In Imo
The shutdown comes few days to the off-season governorship elections holding in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa States.
While featuring on Channels Television Sunrise Daily on Wednesday morning, Rev. Kukah, who is a convener of the National Peace Committee, urged labour leaders to be more circumspect of their decision so that it would not be such that affects the ordinary citizen of the state in a negative way.
He stressed that when an election goes wrong, it is the ordinary people who suffer the consequences.
His words: “I hope that the labour leaders who are giving directives on elections in Imo will really be more circumspect and ask themselves, who stands to gain and who stands to lose. At the end of the day, it is the people of Imo, they’re not electing someone who is outside or people who are outside their state. I just prayerfully hope that Imo as a Christian environment, and that the religious leaders and others with moral authority can prevail on the unions to defer whatever maybe their grievances. This can only be resolved in a very peaceful environment.
“So I do hope and pray that in the name of the chairman of the National Peace Committee we do appeal to them, to please do what is needful and ensure that elections are duly conducted.
“We don’t need to continue to put our people through difficulty. Our people have suffered this enough. So, I hope that they would do their best.”
Bishop Kukah while empathizing with labour unions over what has happened in the state, urged the leaders to consider the higher interest of the ordinary people of Imo State and make sure that the elections go on. “We cannot sacrifice the welfare and wellbeing of our people on the altar of just a personal grandstanding and people who have just personnel or group interests they can only be useful, against the background of the national interests,” Kukah stressed.
Kukah, who is currently in Bayelsa to hold peace accord meeting with political stakeholders ahead of the Saturday’s election, said that in matters of governance recruitment process, citizens must not sit on the fence and expect leaders to do things right. He said the citizens must constantly engage and hold leaders accountable for their actions.
The cleric also called for strengthening the independence of the judiciary as a way of disincentivizing political actors who are always bent on perfecting strategies to compromise the system.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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