By Moses John
Abuja
Ahead of 2019 general elections, the Nigeria Labour Congress has directed its members across the country to vote out governors who have refused to pay their salaries.
Speaking during a familiarisation visit to the Headquarters of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Abuja, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said “every worker in Nigeria must ensure he/she obtains the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the ongoing Continuous Voter Registration exercise.”
Wabba also urged all members of the Congress to remain united irrespective of the union they belonged to.
He said: “We must prepare to vote out governors or any political officer holder who is refusing to pay us salary. We must continue to lament, we have the power, so we must use it this time. Workers, pensioners, and their households who are, in one way or the other suffering the inhuman treatment of non-payment of workers’ wages must be voted out of office in the next election.
“Every member of the Labour movement, irrespective of the union you belong, must understand that it is only in unity we can achieve our objective. Therefore, we all, must, in solidarity, play our part in order to achieve success. So, commitment which will of course bring us to working together is the key.
“And every leader, no matter the union or association in the Labour movement, must consciously see workers’ welfare, the welfare of its members, as very essential in all we do. It is, therefore, important that anytime we have a need for national action, all affiliates must deem it sacrosanct to mobilise its members for such action.”
On the campaign for local government autonomy, he said that “local government areas are very important to the socio-economic welfare of every citizen in Nigeria, because we all come from one LGA or the other.
“So, granting autonomy to LG system in the country will in so many ways make things better for us all. In fact, it will pay the political elite a lot if they strengthen development in the LGs. Both influx of people from rural areas to the urban cities and other vices that accompany rural-urban migration will drastically reduce.”
In his remarks, NULGE President, Ibrahim Khaleel, commended the NLC leadership for initiating the familiarisation visitation, and urged it to strengthen its relationship with its affiliates “and see all of them as important aspect of NLC’s existence.”
He stressed that capacity-building and inclusiveness “are highly important if NLC must survive the challenges ahead and succeed as an umbrella body of Labour movement, which every other unions and associations should look up to and run to in times of need.”
