The All Progressives Congress, APC Governors forum in Nigeria has appealed to the Kaduna state government and the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC to return to the negotiation table.
The Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, PGF and Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu made the appeal in a press statement.
NLC started five days warning strike in Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria in order to make the Kaduna state Government reverse its plans to rightsize the state civil service by sacking some workers. However, the state governor Nasir El-Rufai has remained adamant in his decision to rightsize.
The Progressives Governors Forum say they share the visions of their colleague, Governor El-Rufai to reform the civil service however they acknowledged that Nigerians are already overstretched with a lot of challenges hence the need for negotiations.
“Noting all the challenges facing our states, especially given dwindling revenue, we appeal to all patriotic Nigerians, including the NLC, to demonstrate more commitment toward engaging governments at all levels to address the problems. This is not the time for muscle flexing.
“Nigerians are already overstretched with many challenges. At this critical point of our democratic journey, there cannot be limits to engagement between all governments and citizens. Every step must therefore be taken to resolve the current faceup between Kaduna State Government and NLC. We appeal to both the State Government and NLC to return to the negotiating table.
“In particular, we want to appeal to the NLC leadership to recognise that the burden of leadership at this point is more about responding to challenges based on the honest disposition of correcting past mistakes. As Progressive Governors, we share the vision of Kaduna State Government of reforming all our Local Governments to make them more efficient and consequently the pivot of critical development initiatives. At the same time, we want to appeal to Kaduna State Government under the leadership of our colleague, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to take all the necessary step to ensure the resolution of all disagreements in the larger interest of citizens in Kaduna State.
“We are confident that both the Kaduna State Government and NLC will resolve all outstanding issues and restore industrial harmony in Kaduna State” the statement read.
Emmanuel Ukoh
