GOVERNOR NASIR EL-RUFAI ATTACKED NIGERIA TRADE UNIONS

Governor Nasir El- Rufai attacked trade unions in Nigeria by accusing them of being selfishness, they always after their own interest without thinking about the good of the country.
The unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be reduced. The mistake we made as a country was to place the unions in the Exclusive Legislative List. If the Union of Academic Staff of Universities, ASUU, has a problem with the Federal Government, then the state universities will also go on strike. In Kaduna, I warned Kaduna State University, that if you ever go on strike again because of another person, I will fire you all. I think we have to do some things. First, eliminate labor issues from the exclusive list because many of us are victims of the agreements reached with ASUU by the federal government. The states were never part of such agreements.

Second, it is the question of the minimum wage. Except that we establish a very low minimum wage, there will still be problems, especially in states that do not have a large tax network. You can not set the same minimum wage for Lagos and Jigawa. In addition, we must strictly enforce labor laws. Without work, without payment, because there must be a commercial dispute before something happens. That's what the law says. I believe that the health unions have been the most irresponsible because only an irresponsible doctor will abandon their patients even after swearing the Hippocratic oath. I think Nigerian doctors are the only ones on the planet who are striking.

We have presented our report on true federalism and will be taken to the National Assembly. We hope that the National Assembly will stop dealing with inanities and deal with real problems, "he said.