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Labour is
development partners
— Lawal
From
JOSHUA I. EGBODO, Abuja
Minister of Labour,
Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal has described organized labour movements
as development partners and major stakeholders in the economy of any
nation.
The minister made this assertion Tuesday in Abuja while playing host
to the leadership of the Liberia Labour Congress (LLC) on a courtesy
call led by President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),
Abdulwaheed Ibrahim Omar.
Dr. Lawal said history had shown that the organized labour movement
when taken for granted always leads to failure, noting that it is
always better to resolve and harmonize differences through mutual
understanding.
He thanked LLC, especially the President, Mr. Moses Barwor Junior
for choosing to visit Nigeria , saying it was a wise choice as they
have a lot to learn from NLC. He said he hoped to see the LLC grow
stronger and better.
“One lesson to learn is that the NLC president has been a great
strategist who does not believe in noise making,” the minister said,
and described him as a silent achiever who has succeeded in
instituting industrial peace and achieving results without
compromising his position over issues.
Dr. Lawal explained that the relationship between the labour
movement and government has been very cordial in Nigeria ,
necessitating the inclusion of NLC in several government programmes.
According to him, Labour is represented in the Electoral Reform
Committee (ERC) and the National Council on Privatization with the
aim to achieving the vision 2020 objectives of the present
government, saying all these were not achieved through unnecessary
confrontation, or radicalism.
He said labour movement is like one elephant while the government is
another, and that if they fight, the common man they both seek to
protect suffers. He tasked the LLC to use the approach of dialogue
to achieve results.
The LLC President, Barwor Junior earlier informed the minister that
they were in Nigeria to seek support, expressing happiness for the
warm reception they received.
“We know that Nigeria’s labour movement is the largest in Africa so
we thought we could come to you to share experiences from our
brothers in Nigeria ,” he said.
In his remarks, NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar said the congress
found it worthy to come with the delegation to the minister before
lining up any programme for their visit, saying the long civil war
in Liberia affected the labour movement and virtually everything in
the country.
“We have come here to pay and show you the solidarity of workers,
not only here but from outside, to show that we are working in
harmony with you,” Omar said as explained further that the two
labour centers in Liberia has merged as one united labour movement
now.
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