NLC condemns shooting of workers in Nasarawa

Condemnation has continued to trail last week’s shooting and killing of workers in Nasarawa State. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which condemned the shooting of the protesting workers by the police, described the killing as a crime against humanity, saying the culprits must be made to face the law.

Joe Ajaero, president of one of the two factions of the NLC, in a statement made available to the media, said it was despicable and unconscionable that a government whose cardinal objective was the protection of the lives and property of its citizens would unleash an act of violence with murderous intent upon its own citizenry who were merely expressing their anger over the refusal of the government to pay them salaries for work they had done.

Workers of Nasarawa State, it would be recalled, staged a protest against the decision of the state government to slash their salaries by 50 percent, during which the police were invited by the government to quell the protest, leading to shooting and killing of one of the workers.

“We have to put it on record that such protests are not only morally right but also legally correct, as it is an acceptable tool within the industrial relations space both locally and internationally. The exercise by the workers was therefore in keeping with the tenets of our laws. It is therefore horrifying that a government that should be the bastion of the laws of this nation will be at the forefront of desecrating its ethos, instead of protecting law-abiding protesters.

“It is unfortunate that we now have a situation where debtors are now killing their creditors. There are acceptable tools that govern various engagements of the social partners within the nation’s industrial relations space. These tools are agreed upon so as to avoid impunity, protect the weak and ensure peaceful engagements within the Industrial Relations space. What the Nassarawa State Government has done is a criminal negation not only of this but also of its avowals to protect the constitution of the federal republic.

Nigerian workers led by the congress condemn this in very strong terms. It is abhorrent, creates a dangerous precedence and signposts a grim ominous portend for the nation’s Industrial Relations practice.

We are worried that this may be an emerging reality in the minds of employers who are now deploying it in the exercise of their relationship with workers to continue furthering their illegal suppression and exploitation of Nigerian workers,” Ajaero said in the statement.