Our Reporter

The Federal Government on Saturday inaugurated a 10-man committee to resolve the dispute between the Kaduna State Government and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over the planned mass sack of workers.

The committee is headed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Peter-Yemira Tarfa.

It was inaugurated by Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige who urged members of the committee to meet the expectations of President Muhammadu Buhari in ensuring that industrial peace returns to the state.

The minister recalled that the federal government had apprehended the strike initiated by NLC in the state in May, with parties signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to restore peace.

He said that the intervening circumstances had made the reconstitution of the committee inevitable.

According to him, the committee is expected to resolve all the issues in dispute between the state government and NLC.

Read Also; Labour kicks as El-Rufai raises panel on workers strike

Ngige, who acknowledged that the issues in contention bordered essentially on trade disputes, gave the committee 21 days to submit its report.

He urged the committee to resolve the issues holistically and be guided by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as the country’s labour laws.

Ngige noted that downsizing or rightsizing of workforce in any organisation, government or private sector, was a redundancy issue, which must be subjected to the principles spelt out in the Trade Disputes Act, Laws of the Federation, 2004, Cap L1.

“The law says in Section 20(A) that: “in the event of redundancy, every employer shall inform the trade unions or representatives of workers concerned of the reasons for or the extent of their anticipated redundancy.

“Section 20(B) also says that the principles of ‘last-in, first-out’ shall be adopted in the discharge of the category of workers affected, subject to all factors of relative merit including skill, ability and any reliability.”

“So, in applying this, we must subject it to the relativity of merit, skill, ability and reliability. If somebody has a forged certificate, he should be asked to go because he didn’t merit the job in the first instance.

The Secretary to the Kaduna State Government (SSG), Balarabe Lawal, and Deputy National President, NLC, Najim Hashim, are co-chairmen of the committee while the Director, Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs O. U. Akpan, will serve as secretary.

Also speaking, Kaduna State SSG pledged the state government’s commitment to the restoration of industrial harmony, adding that government was not at war with labour.

In his remarks, NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, said that labour was committed to resolution of the impasse in the state.

“I pray that it will be the last dispute between labour and Kaduna State Government. This is a labour matter that can be resolved and should be resolved,” he said.

The committee was set up after the NLC threatened to call a nationwide protest over the planned mass sack of workers in the state.