Prioritise workers’ welfare, Waba tells governors

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) National President Ayuba Waba has urged governors to make workers’ welfare their priority.
Waba said some states had enough resources to adequately cater for the welfare of workers but failed to attend to their needs because they did not make the issue of workers welfare a priority.
The NLC president spoke yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the opening of the meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC).
He said workers are partners at ensuring good governance and political stability, adding that governors should encourage them by paying their salaries and allowances promptly.
Waba said: “It is not that some states cannot pay their workers’ salaries as and when due, but it depends on their priority. Some governors see workers’ welfare as a priority, while some others do not.
“However, it must be stressed that workers are partners in the Nigerian project. We believe in good governance and stability of the polity. We will support the Federal Government on good governance and political stability.”
The NLC president lauded the Ogun State government for prioritising workers’ welfare through prompt payment of salaries.
But he urged him to clear the backlogs of deductions from the workers’ pay.
Waba urged Amosun to reinstate the sacked labour leader in the state (the state NLC chairman), Akeem Ambali, saying the governor should “forgive and forget”.
Ambali praised Amosun for making Ogun State an investors’ destination of choice through infrastructural development.
Amosun pledged to continue to make workers’ welfare his priority, adding that his administration would ensure regular payment of their salaries