President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, has decl-ared yesterday that the current fasting period will not affect the second phase of the proposed strike and protests against the hike in the prices of petroleum products.
Comrade Oshiomhole who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on “Developing Strategies for Encouraging Women’s Active Participation in Trade Union Activities” in Abuja, accused the federal government of being stubborn and hoping that the NLC would shelve the proposed strike because of the current fasting period.
“We are aware that the federal government is hoping on the fasting period that the second phase of the strike and protest against hike in prices of petroleum products would be shelved. Government cannot lecture us about the values of religion.
“And if they rely on such religious sentiments, NLC will match them facts for facts and word for word. The NLC cannot be intimidated to submission,” he said.
He said that the organised labour cannot be fooled by those in government, as according to him, those in government are not more knowledgeable than the org-anised labour and Nigerians outside government.
The NLC president also disclosed that the congress cannot be abolished by law, saying that trade unions were not the creation of law.
“There is fear that the NLC may not be the same again with the passage of the Labour Bill. But unions came into existence in spite of laws and not of law.
“Unions were not a creation of law. Historically, unions were formed as a result of the struggles of the working men and women and so they cannot be abolished by law,” he said.
He said that the NLC will not be deterred by any law that intends to cow labour leaders into submission, until the grievances of Nigerian workers are addressed.
“NLC must begin to engage the class character of this government. We must demystify the reform progra-mmes in whatever language they put it so that Nigerians can be educated. Because it is our responsibility to educate Nigerians on the double standards of this government,” he said.
According to him, it is a tragedy that the democracy the Nigerian people sought from military rule is not helping the situation.
But the president general of the Jama’atul Nasil Islam (JNI) and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, yesterday appealed to the NLC to defer the next phase of the strike action.
According to a statement made available to Daily Trust in Kaduna signed by Malam Muhammad Suleiman on behalf of the secretary general of JNI, the Sultan urged the NLC to shelve the strike until after the month of Ramadan.
Alhaji Maccido said that any further strike will be an added burden on the Muslim ummah whom he said have already suffered in the advent of the last strike embarked upon by the NLC.
He appealed to the NLC to change its intention in order to alleviate the sufferings of the Muslim ummah.
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