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President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba has said that he was not afraid of being arrested by agents of Kaduna state government for leading protest against mass sack of workers in the state.
Governor Mallam Nasir El- Rufai had earlier in the day declared the NLC president wanted for economic sabotage & attacks on public infrastructure under Miscellaneous Offences Act.
Wabba who was accosted on Tuesday morning in front of the premises of the Nigeria Unioun of Journalists Kaduna Waff road during the continuation of the rally, when reminded that the governor has declared him wanted, retorted that he is waiting for them to arrest him.
The Kaduna State government had earlier accused the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) of engaging in politics rather than industrial action, faulting the labour union for campaigning to destabilize social and economic activities in the state.
The government said was not going to back out on the ongoing physical identification of persons and credentials to determine the number of persons that would be laid off.
Speaking on the position of the government on Channels Television, Hajia Bariatu Mohammed, Kaduna State Head of Service said that the NLC was engaging in political activities and not any form of industrial action, to inflict pain on residents.
She said that Kaduna State residents were not in support of the NLC.
She stated that it was unfortunate that the labour union was busy threatening residents and compelling those of them that opened business to shut down.
Mohammed added:“We met with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and they supported us. They came on a solidarity visit to us this morning. We cannot be threatened by the action of the labour union to back out on what we are doing. NLC is aware that shutting down electricity, hospitals, schools and inflicting pain on the people will not change the position of Kaduna State government. We are yet to ascertain the number of people to be disengaged and when we conclude, we will make the information available to the public”
The Head of Service said that the government was yet to establish the number of people that would be retrenched and would do that at the end of the ongoing physical accreditation of persons and credentials, stressing that the government would be open to dialogue if NLC was ready.
“If the Kaduna State chapter of NLC is ready for talk, we are open for discussion but we are not going to back out on the ongoing exercise. We are doing a process that the NLC is against,” she said.
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