Kaduna state governor El-Rufai is not mincing words as to how he feels about the trade unions and doctors in Nigeria. According to El-Rufia, trade unions are one of the major problems the country has as they find selfish ways to keep themselves going all to the detriment of the nation.
Not stopping there, El-Rufai also pointed out while speaking at the ‘Governance Matters’ roundtable organised by Development Alternative Incorporation, DAI in Abuja, that doctors in the country are irresponsible as they are the only ones who go on strike amongst every country’s doctors.
‘Trade Unions have never served the country well. They have been selfish and everything is about their narrow interests. In general, in Nigeria, trade unions have been a danger to our progress and I think they should be curtailed. The mistake we made as a country was placing trade unions in the Exclusive Legislative List. If the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has an issue with the Federal Government, then the state universities will go on strike too. In Kaduna, I warned the Kaduna State University, that if ‘you ever go on strike again because of somebody else, I will fire all of you. I think we need to do some things. First, take labour matters out of the Exclusive List because many of us are victims of agreements reached with ASUU by the Federal Government. The states were never part of such agreements.
Secondly, is the issue of minimum wage. Except we set a very low minimum wage, there will continue to be issues especially with states that do not have wide tax net. You cannot set the same minimum wage for Lagos and Jigawa. Also, we must apply the labour laws strictly. No work, no pay, because there has to be a trade dispute before anything strike’ he said.
