Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, has denied the allegation by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) accusing him of trying to scuttle the implementation of its agreement with the government over a dispute arising from the removal of fuel subsidy.
A statement signed by the Director Information, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, described NLC’s allegation as unfounded.
“The ministry said attention of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has been drawn to a press release issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on 18th October 2023, wherein it alleged that the Honourable Minister, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong is moving to undermine the critical Labour-Federal Government Agreement of October 2, 2023.
“We wish to unequivocally refute the allegation and put it on record that it is unfounded.
“Let it be reiterated that since assuming office and upon the dispute between the various groups within the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) being brought to his attention, the Honourable Minister has given consistent, adequate and fair attention to the matter with a view to resolving it,” it said.
The ministry said that several meetings have been held to resolve the NURTW issue with representatives of the disputing groups, and the efforts are still ongoing.
“Therefore, it is not correct to suggest that the minister is supporting any of the groups in the course of the negotiations.
“Members of the NURTW, the NLC, and the entire Labour movement should be assured that the minister, as Chief Conciliator, will continue to work with all parties to ensure that there is reconciliation, harmony and industrial peace.”
We Won’t Spare Anyone Involved
in Criminality, Says Radda
Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
The Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Umaru Radda, has vowed to deal with any individual found to be involved in one criminal activity or the other in the State.
Radda said that no single individual was more important than 10 million people or the lives of an innocent person within the state, adding that in an effort to curtailed insecurity, he had come up with the intelligence unit within the Katsina Community Watch Corps.
The governor, during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja yesterday, hinted that the state was trying as much as possible to gather information, alongside intelligence from the Department of State Security (DSS) in order to build a network that could arrest and prosecute any person found wanting.
Radda stated: “We have come up with the intelligence unit within the Katsina Community Watch Corps. This intelligence unit, even the Corps members don’t know them. The reason for setting it up is to check the excesses of the Watch Corps and also to gather information.
“There are some traditional rulers who are identified and those ones are already under scrutiny. So, we are not sparing anybody, even commissioners in my regime, we are not going to spare anybody found to be involved in one criminal activity or the other.
“I have made it very simple and easy for anyone in Katsina who has information to come and say it directly to the governor to avoid leaking the information elsewhere. That was why I mentioned earlier, the next neighbour sitting close to you, you don’t know who he is, you can only vouch for yourself but you don’t know what has been going on in the other person’s mind. So anybody can compromise.”
The governor lamented lives and property have been lost, while people are being disrupted from performing their economic activities.
Radde added: “Since I became governor, there is not a single day I will not receive reports of one kidnapping or the other. People being killed and all sorts, and this has been disturbing me. Sometimes it is difficult to open my phone because I know what I will be confronted with.
“You are aware of the challenges in terms of the number of the security operatives we have in this country. In some local governments in my state, we have less than 50 police officers in areas that have nothing less than a population of 200,000 people.
“We governors that are so-called chief security officers of our States, authority without power, you can’t command the military, police or civil defence. They receive orders from above. Katsina State is a state that has an estimated population of over 10 million people.
“So you can imagine with that kind of population, with the numbers we have in the security agencies in the country, to be able to protect the lives and property of the citizens of the State.”
Radda added that he had visited almost all the heads of federal security agencies seeking their support and cooperation in the fight against insecurity in the state.
“Even yesterday, I had a chat with Mr. President, he told me he watched our programme live when we were commissioning the security outfit in Katsina State last week and he has encouraged me and supported us because he said this is one of the best ways to go about it.
“The federal government is going to support us in that direction and concerted efforts are going to be made and you have seen the efforts that the security agencies are even making, things have really changed, even last week, we have seen how security agents killed over a hundred bandits in Zamfara State.”
The governor vowed that he would not go begging bandits to come for negotiations, saying it is so disheartening and demoralising.
He noted: “If they are weak, let them come out, let us negotiate and we will reintegrate them back into the society. They are our people, our brothers, but we cannot protect a criminal.
“A criminal is a criminal regardless of his religion or ethnicity. This country has gone beyond the level of sentiments. It is unfortunate when you hear people saying all sorts of things because it’s not their brothers that were killed, my brother was killed by these same bandits, same father and mother. So nobody can drag me into sentiments, we are beyond that. And my determination to drive this thing is 100 per cent and I will do it and I don’t mind the consequences because God is with us,” he said.
