"There were bullet shots; our members were attacked. Clearly speaking, this is not right in a democracy. We have reported and the police have seen the victims, the Directorate of State Service representatives have seen them”
The protest against the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige on Wednesday by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas members turned violent as the workers were attacked and shot at by suspected thugs on a street leading to Ngige’s house in Abuja.
According to reports, Nine of the protesters were injured with three of them in critical condition. They were taken to the National Hospital in Abuja where they are currently receiving treatment. The workers accused Ngige of hiring the thugs that attacked them.
In response to this, in a statement issued by the minister’s Special Assistant, Nwachukwu Obidiwe, Ngige denied engaging thugs to attack the protesters. He said the private residence of the minister was invaded by the NLC, adding that the gate of the house was barricaded with two trucks.
One of the protesters at the hospital had gunshots injury over his head was placed on oxygen support. Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, Bala Chiroma, was at the hospital to see the injured.
The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, said the protest was carried out to express workers’ grievance over Ngige’s failure to inaugurate the board of National Social Insurance Trust Fund with Frank Kokori as chairman. He said it was fundamental right of workers to carry out protesting.
According to the NLC President: “We were on picketing line today (Wednesday) because of the grievances over non-inauguration of the board of the NSITF. Picketing is the right of every citizen and fundamentally, it is human and trade union rights.
“But we were surprised that he mobilised thugs with some of them using arms. There were bullet shots; our members were attacked. Clearly speaking, this is not right in a democracy. We have reported and the police have seen the victims, the Directorate of State Service representatives have seen them”.
Ayuba said that the NLC would meet on Thursday (today) and take necessary action in response to this attack
He said: “We are going to meet at the level of Central Working Committee on Thursday and we are going to respond appropriately to this new threat and violence in industrial relations by a minister that is supposed to protect workers’ rights and interest.
“Definitely, trust has been broken and we are going to meet and decide the next line of action. It is a sad situation but we are not going to be deterred until we have a society that is working for everybody. People like Ngige should not have anything to do with governance. We have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to caution Ngige. It is our right to demand for accountability in the management of our resources. The money in NSITF is workers’ money and we want it to be accounted for”.