The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), yesterday, said it had lost trust and confidence in the Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, for his alleged inability to deliver justice all time.
The union, in a letter to the minister, claimed that instead of dredging the waters, Lalong’s actions have allegedly contributed to polluting it more and endangering the nation.
NLC president, Joe Ajaero, expressed the disaffection following the minister’s handling of the October 2 agreement reached between NLC and the Federal Government on the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) crisis.
He accused Lalong of siding with a group that “forcefully sought to hijack the leadership of the union to go ahead and hold delegates’ conferences in defiance of the constitution of the union and good conscience,” describing the action as most unfortunate and a recipe for nationwide industrial disharmony.
Ajaero said the NLC was aghast that Lalong reportedly “allowed himself for some inexplicable reasons to be dragged into towing a path that was completely at variance with the traditions and practice of industrial relations in Nigeria.”
He alleged that the minister acted in a manner that negates the demands of his office and the high competence, which the union had felt he would bring to bear in running the office.
Ajaero said: “We never expected this level of apparent political contamination of an industrial relations matter, which has a specialised code of ethics. Where is the expected professionalism in such piece of advice and where is the neutrality and justice in suggesting to individuals, who had renounced their membership of the NURTW at the time of the union’s election, to proceed to hold delegates’ conferences that had already held in keeping with the dictates of the union and the mandate of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment which you now superintend over?
“NLC does not want to see this as a deliberate plan at sabotaging the October 2 agreement. The position of the Attorney General of the Federation and your office represents the key ministries in Nigeria, where its occupants are expected to be very professional in their judgments and completely unbiased in taking decisions as it has deep implications for the health of the nation’s workplaces and economy.”
