The Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) and its Central working Committee(CWC) have taken a swipe at the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, calling him a ‘square peg in a round hole’.
This is just as they noted that the minister is incapable, which is the reason labour related issues have not received the attention desired.
Addressing journalists on Thursday in Abuja after the meeting of its Central Working Committee, the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said that the Minister is not fit to hold public office.
“People like Ngige are not fit to hold public office because by our labour laws he is supposed to be the chief consolator therefore, if the chief consolator should descend so low to be attacking his constituents, his social partners, then it is condemnable”, he remarked.
Wabba, who stated that the CWC held an emergency meeting following attacks on its members by alleged thugs sponsored by Ngige while picketing his home, said that the CWC has resolved to hold Dr. Chris Ngige and members of his family personally responsible for the violence visited on the family and the workers that were injured.
According to him, “We have directed our workers particularly at the airports in Nigeria and around the world, that wherever they (Ngige and family members) are seen, they should also receive the same disgrace.
“His name and identity has already been circulated around the 163 countries where ITUC have members”.
Meanwhile, the CWC also resolved to embark on a national protest on Monday, May 13, 2019 in Abuja against the brutalization of its members by Ngige.
The NLC further demanded full investigation and apology from both the Minister and the government.
“Apart from condemnation, we demand full investigation and the prosecution of those that are involved. CWC also resolved to demand an unconditional apology from the Minister of Labour Chris Ngige and by extension government both for the primitive behavior of the Minister and for its suspicious silence.
“Many people have raised the issue of —oh his residence—No! He is a public office holder and he is holding that office in trust, we didn’t access his house, it was on a public street and everybody can see that its our right”, the NLC President explained.
Recall that the Organised Labour Movement on Wednesday clashed with thugs in the course of their protest at the residence of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige over his refusal to inaugurate Chief Frank Kokori as the Chairman of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund(NSITF).
