The Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) has admonished the governor of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai to negotiate with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve the strike in the state.
Recall that the governor, El-Rufai and labour have been at loggerheads over the decision of the Kaduna government to disengage 4,000 workers across the 23 LGAs of the state.
The state government had cited a high wage bill among other issues as the reason for the disengagement — a development that did not go down well with the labour union.
As a result, the NLC resolved to ground activities in the state with a five-day warning strike which commenced on Sunday. A protest against the decision was also staged on Monday in Kaduna.
The showdown took another turn on Tuesday when el-Rufai declared Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, and other members of the union wanted.
Speaking on the development, the forum noted that it is not the “time for muscle-flexing”, considering the dwindling revenue of states.
Abubakar Bagudu, governor of Kebbi state and chairman of the forum, appealed to the leadership of NLC to recognise the challenges facing the country.
“The PGF has been following unfolding development between NLC and Kaduna state government over the issue of rightsising local government employees with deep concerns,” he said in a statement.
“Noting all the challenges facing all our states, especially given dwindling revenue, we appeal to all patriotic Nigerians, including the NLC, to demonstrate more commitment toward engaging governments at all levels to address problems.
“This is not the time for muscle-flexing,” Bagudu said, saying that Nigerians were already overstretched with many challenges.
“At this critical point of our democratic journey, there could not be limits to engagement between all governments and citizens.
“We appeal to NLC leadership to recognise that the burden of leadership is more about responding to challenges based on the honest disposition of correcting past mistakes.
“As progressive governors, we share the vision of Kaduna state government of reforming all our local government councils to make them more efficient and consequently the pivot of critical development initiatives.
“At the same time, we want to appeal to the state government under the leadership of our colleague, Malam Nasir El-Rufai to take all necessary steps to ensure the resolution of all disagreements in the larger interest of citizens in Kaduna.”