Thursday 28 February 2013

DO NOT TURN OUR CAMPUSES INTO GRAVE YARD! - NLC


                                                                                                                                  27 February 2013
PRESS RELEASE

The cold-blooded murder of four students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi by a detachment of the army drafted to the school to quell a peaceful protest by students over continued non-availability of water is shocking, unacceptable and reprehensible.
These avoidable killings of young and defenseless people leave a sour taste in the mouth. This brutal and murderous tactics by soldiers is a throw-back to the past we would be better off without.
The right to dissent or protest is a constitutional right and not a privilege to be given by any god-head. What the students were doing therefore was in the exercise of that right from which not only them would benefit. If however, it was the considered opinion of the law enforcement agents that the students had crossed the red line in the exercise of that right, the professional and proper thing was to have been guided by the rules of engagement and not to have engaged in a senseless slaughter.
It is bad enough that our utilities on which huge sums of money are spent do not work. To kill those who insist that they work, which in our view, is ensuring accountability, is double jeopardy. We want to be emphatic; no amount of cruelty or mindless violence visited on the weak and the defenseless will stop protests in our land. Our students were part of the struggle that restored democracy in our land, and should not be treated as irritants who do not know the difference between right and wrong. Those who invited the soldiers, those who carried out these killings and those under whose watch the killings were carried out should be held accountable. The government should fish them out immediately and prosecute them in line with the laws of the land.
And except this is done timorously, the government would have succeeded in sending out one clear message, that when it comes to terror there is no difference between the state and terrorists.
This crude impunity and descent into the abyss, we must warn, should be arrested for the sake of all of us. It is trite knowledge that violence breeds violence, particularly in societies where the state no longer has monopoly of weapons of destruction.
We should move from this quick-fix strategy to something much more durable and reasonable. We should re-discover our values and inspire our younger generation instead of this orgy of violence that will ultimately consume us.

School authorities should exercise utmost restraint in dealing with student protests, for they lose control as soon as they externalize them. Quite often, nipping in the bud such protests is a safer option as we know that students when taken into confidence could be reasonable.

And in the event of an inevitable situation necessitating externalization, only law enforcement agents with the needed temperament, education and training relevant to students’ psychology should be deployed to campuses. Above all this, they should be thoroughly versed in the art of internal security maintenance and rules of engagement. This, in our view, makes necessary here and now the retraining of our security forces to deal with students and other civil protests.
Finally, our hearts go to the parents, friends and compatriots of the fallen students. May God give them the fortitude to bear these painful losses. It is sad, ever so sad as our campuses are being turned into grave yards.
Abdulwahed I. Omar
President

Monday 11 February 2013

The Super Eagles have set the pace! - NLC


                                                                                                           11 February 2013
                                           Press Statement

On behalf of the Nigerian workers we congratulate the Super Eagles of Nigeria on its victory at the just concluded African Cup of Nations tournament’s final match which was played at the National Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa, thirteen years after Nigeria last won the trophy.

We see in this victory a bright future for Nigerian football, if we are able to put the right people in the management of sports in general and soccer in particular.

Some of the Nigerian players are from Nigeria based teams and with their performance at this tournament, it is clear that given the right facilities, managers and priority attention, soccer will return as a major sector and home to our teeming unemployed youths who have the skill and interest in the sport.

We therefore call on government to review the lackluster attention sports has received so far by reforming the sector in other to reposition the sport Industry to conform with contemporary times.

Specifically, we urge the Nigeria Football Federation to urgently reorganize the Nigerian Football League by providing adequate resources and facilities that will identify young people from primary schools up to tertiary educational institutions for consistent trainings, community and inter school competitions where future national players are identified and engaged by both the Federal and State Sports Ministries.

The private sector must also renew their interests in the sports industry by encouraging home based clubs with modern facilities, sustainable remunerations and exposure to national and international trainings and competitions. We shouldn’t wait until the next international tournament before assembling players.

The Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Mr. Stephen Okechukwu Keshi and all the players must be commended for their dexterity, focus and patriotic pride which clearly showed in the way he calmly played all the matches. The Coach and all the players’ professional qualities facilitated the victory we now celebrate. All the players displayed their commitment and worked as a team determined to rescue Nigeria from the abyss we have been left for nearly two decades. They all showed patriotism and must be commended and honoured not just by government but by all Nigerians.

Government and all stakeholders in the sporting industry must ensure we sustain this victory and prepare the entire industry for more victories at home and abroad.
This way, we will rekindle the interests of Nigerian football fans who have since been lost to the European League and other foreign leagues.

Indeed, if the industry is not rescued quickly, we will not only lose football fans; we will lose more players to foreign clubs and leagues. We must not allow what happened to the manufacturing industry, majority of which have been lost to other countries, to happen to sports, being another industry with prospect of engaging thousands of our unemployed youths.

Abdulwahed Omar
President

Monday 4 February 2013

Don’t truncate the will of the Nigerian people - NLC warns Nigeria's National Assembly


                                                                                                         3 February 2013
                                             Press Statement
The signals coming from the National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives on the review of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is quite disturbing.
We recall that a public session was to hold last Thursday, 31st January 2013 which was abruptly postponed by the Honourable Speaker of the House after members of the public had waited for about two hours for the session to commence.

While we hope that the National Assembly is not yielding to pressure from some quarters, particularly the Governors Forum who has been widely reported to be against some popular proposals on critical sections of the constitution most Nigerians advocated should be included in the new constitution, we reiterate our position that the new constitution provides for full local government autonomy as expected in a federation.

The Local Governments are closer to the mass of our people and its only when they are fully independent that the Nigerian people can enjoy the benefits of democracy.

Rather than continue to tie the local governments to the whims and caprices of state governments, the constitution should ensure funds meant for local governments go directly to them and all funds and other resources generated by the local governments should be managed by the local governments and not the state governments.

This is one way we can deepen democracy in Nigeria and ensure a working federal system that will benefit the Nigerian people.

The Nigerian people were united on this during the public sessions held last year in all the 360 constituencies where the Peoples’ Public Sessions were held by the House of Representatives in collaboration with labour and civil society groups in the country.

The Nigerian people were also united that labour and industrial relations matters must remain in the exclusive list as it is in the 1999 constitution and must not be tampered with as it is in the interest of industrial peace and the principles of tripartism which promotes transparency, fairness, and result oriented collective bargaining.

We warn, that the National Assembly should not allow itself to be used to impose tenure elongation for any political office, including the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Office of Governor etc, as Nigerians have consistently opposed this since it was fraudulently introduced to public discourse and legislative attention during the Obasanjo administration. We remain opposed to it and will resist any attempt to smuggle it into the report because Nigerians have consistently been opposed to it.

We took interest in the proceedings of the People’s Public Sessions because we believed the leadership of the House who promised the Nigerian people that our shared views and presentations would not be supplanted with views and interests of a few politicians who wish that the resources and political direction of the country remain their exclusive preserve.

The National Assembly, particularly the House of Representatives should not allow itself to be held hostage by any political group or interest to mutilate the views and collective interests of the Nigerian people in the final report of the sessions held nationwide on the constitution amendment.

The National Assembly should know that their commitment is to the Nigerian people as a whole and not the self interests of a few people or groups. This attitude of subjugating our collective interests have not been helpful in the delivery of good governance and anyone advocating for the sustenance of retrogressive and anti people provisions in the constitution must be regarded and treated as an enemy of the Nigerian people.

The leadership of the House should be firm in its determination to promote democratic ideals and good governance, which the 7th House of Representatives have been able to demonstrate so far.

We therefore demand that the house make the report of the Peoples’ Public Sessions held nationwide public immediately.

Abdulwahed Omar
President