The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Niger State chapter, has asked Governor Muhammad Umar Bago to stop the appointment of executive directors for government agencies and parastatals.
The Niger State NLC made the demand in a letter presented to the State House of Assembly during a peaceful protest on Wednesday.
The union warned that it will lockdown the state if the request is not granted.
State chairman of the NLC, Idris Abdulkareem Lafene, said the union decided to approach the legislators following the governor’s refusal to listen to their call for suspension of the appointments.
The union argued that the appointment of executive directors for government agencies and parastatals is contrary to the civil service rule.
The state NLC chairman insisted, “The political appointment of executive directors, director general and others is creating serious industrial disharmony between the political class and the civil service. It is not done anywhere in the world.
“If nothing is done to that effect, the NLC would be forced to lock down the state.
“We decided to bring our grievances to the House on the need for the state governor to stop all these appointments. That is why we have the three arms of government, the judiciary and the Legislator to checkmates the executive.”
Responding, the Deputy Speaker, Comrade Afiniki Dauda, commended the organized labour for stepping out to make sure the right thing is done.
She explained that their observations and those of others on the appointments would be forwarded to the state governor.
” Thank you for your observations. We will take all the observation and abnormalities you raised in your letter to the governor; even the observations made by others,” she said.
The deputy speaker added, “Due to the abnormalities in the appointments, especially on that of Board of Internal Revenue, we decided to set up a Committee in the House because we want to understand what they are doing.
“We also asked our members to go back to their various local government areas to enable them know how much revenue each council is making.”
