Kwara State: APC Campaign Team, NLC Deliberate on Presidential Candidate
Tunde Akanbi, Ilorin.
The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called on members of the workforce that constitute the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Kwara state to be decisive about their choice of who emerges president in the forthcoming general elections.
It said the labour force cannot afford to sit on the fence and, therefore, enjoined them to be meticulous in their choice of who to cast their ballots for among the presidential candidates on parade.
The director of the Labour directorate in the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Comrade Issa Aremu, stated this while addressing members of the Kwara State Joint Labour Congress in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, North-Central Nigeria.
Aremu, who spoke alongside the deputy president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Alhaji Najeem Yasin, and the secretary of the Labour directorate of the APC presidential council, Ambassador Shola Iji, identified labour issues such as employment, job security, fiscal security, pension issues and disposition to decent work as some of the factors that would determine the February 25th, 2023 presidential polls.
He explained that only the APC had deemed it fit to incorporate and dedicate a Labour directorate to its campaign council, which he added, is a testament to the importance attached to labour issues unlike the opposition parties.
Aremu, who is the director-general, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), said workers must determine who is going to guarantee jobs after the presidential election has been won and lost.
He urged the workforce in the state to give the APC consideration when it comes to labour issues, assuring that welfare of workers would be prioritized as exemplified in the incumbent government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We are in a very interesting time. This year marks the 24th year of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.
“Nigeria used to be a very promising country between 1960 and 1966. Our founding fathers and mothers did everything to promote democracy.
“But in 1966, military overthrew them. We don’t want to go into history. May the souls of our founding fathers rest in perfect peace.
“For those of us who are older, we couldn’t have held this meeting.
Some few years ago before 1999, we had military rule which attacked workers’ rights, trade union’s rights.
“In fact, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) executive was dissolved.
“So, for us, democracy is a total commitment. Because without democracy, we cannot guarantee freedom of association that we are having today.
“We cannot talk of workers’ rights. We have to take democracy serious, because democracy will determine whether jobs would be guaranteed, whether salaries would be improved upon and whether pension would be paid, as all depends on who you vote into office.
“During this election, labour cannot be on the fence,” Aremu said.
He recalled the meeting which leaders of both the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) held with the APC presidential candidate and his running mate, where the APC’s effort at setting up a directorate strictly for Labour was acknowledged.
According to him, the election coming up will be determined by labour issues including employment, job security, security of tenure, fiscal security, security of lives and property, pension issues, women involvement and decent work.
Also speaking, the NLC deputy president, Najeem Yasin, informed that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, recently met with labour leaders in Abuja and the interaction was reassuring for workers in the country.
In his remarks, the acting chairman, Kwara NLC, Mr. Muritala Olayinka Saheed, thanked members for trooping out to receive the team on behalf of Kwara workers.
Edited by Amaka E. Nliam
