FG constitutes 10-man committee to resolve Kaduna govt, NLC dispute

The Federal Government has set up a 10-man committee to resolve the dispute between the Kaduna State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, disclosed this to journalists at the end of a closed-door meeting with the NLC and representatives of the Kaduna State government on Thursday in Abuja.

The NLC embarked on a five-day warning strike on Monday to protest the sack of several local government workers by Kaduna State government.

The congress suspended the strike following the federal government’s intervention on Wednesday.

Ngige said the meeting recognised that the dispute was caused by a communication gap between the two parties.

He said the meeting resolved to constitute a Bi-partite Committee comprising six representatives of the state government and three officials of the NLC.

The minister said: “They (committee) are to engage further with the objective of reverting with a work plan on how to integrate the provision of section 20 of the Labour Act CAP LFN 2004 to resolve the impasse between the state government and the NLC.

”The meeting also resolved that the committee should have as chairman, the Head of Service of the Kaduna State government and assisted by a Deputy National President of the NLC.

“The committee is expected to revert with the work plan for peaceful resolution of all issues in contention to the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment by Tuesday, May 24.”.

Ngige added that the work plan is to itemize the structure and sub-structure in the state and local government of their activities.

“This also includes the time of commencement and envisaged final tenure of the committee. Or they should make recommendations if in its wisdom it thinks the committee should be a Permanent Standing Committee,” he added.