As workers mark May Day globally, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Kaduna state council has mourned 36 workers it said were lost to banditry in the state in the last one year.
Kaduna state NLC Chairman, Comrade Ayuba Magaji, who called for a minute silence in honour of the 36 departed workers, said Nigerian workers had suffered from high inflation and traumatic situation of insecurity. Ayuba, who lamented “continuous hostilities between the state government and workers”, charged his colleagues to go into active politics with a view to defend the interest of workers and ensure their welfare.
Addressing the May Day celebration at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on Sunday, with the theme: “Labour, Leadership and the Quest for Good Governance and Development in Nigeria”, Ayuba encouraged the workers to obtain their voter’s cards and vote out politicians who will not defend their interest.
He noted that the International Workers’ Day symbolises the “never-say-never willingness of the working class to keep the wheels of wealth creation rolling”. Despite the sincere efforts of the state council of the Congress to revalidate cordial industrial relationship with the state government, its appears that a lot need to be done to achieve that.
Explaining how some workers lost their lives to banditry, Comrade Ayuba said, “apart from the recent terrifying train attack that resulted to the death of our compatriots including our Comrade the Secretary General of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Late Comrade Ozigi and good number of other Comrades by the insurgents/bandits in Kaduna.
“The cases of insecurity has overwhelmed our consciousness and imaginations resulting to gross anxiety, strenuous stress, tinted trauma and general poor productivity. Local Government Areas and Communities like Birnin-Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun, Kajuru, Kachia, Kaura, Zangon Kataf and some part of Kagarko and to be specific Kaduna-Abuja Expressway has become dungeon of death and free field of kidnapping.
“The kidnapping of our children at Forestry Mechanisation College and the two nurses at Rural Hospital ldon in 2021, the incidence of shooting at sight of our health worker in Birnin Gwari, the kidnapping of 13 Zaria staff in Giwa Local Government Area are still fresh in our memories. On behalf of the leadership of the Congress, we send our heartfelt sympathy and share their pains, as we pray for the safe return of those in captivity and repose of the soul of the demised.
“We appreciates the role and sacrifices of our security personnel, while we are calling the Federal Government to intensify efforts to arrest this ugly situation by intensifying military intelligence gathering and usage, using modern equipment, gadgets, machines and technology such as drones to combat the odd trends of insecurity in our beloved state, the North west zone and the country at large.”
