2,000 teachers, health workers die in North-East

2,000 teachers, health workers die in North-East
ON SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

ABUJA—Organised labour, yesterday, said insurgency in the North-East has killed over 2000 workers, especially teachers and health workers, carrying out their legitimate duties in the region. President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, stated this in Abuja during the NLC/American Centre for Interna-tional Labour Solidarity, AFL-CIO, meeting on Employment and Decent Work for Peace: National Feedback meeting. Wabba also said if politicians continued to manipulate the political space against the interest of the masses, the insurgency will not stop. He attributed the escalating conflicts in the country to lack of good governance and the abuse of human and trade union rights, stressing that good governance would eradicate poverty in the polity. He also lamented the lack of decent working environment and inequality in the system, which has led to the impoverishment of the working class, noting with regret that benefits of workers that lost their lives in line of duty have not been paid, while the trade unions were now faced with the problems of orphans and widows to cater for. He said: “We must address issues of human and trade union rights, and importantly issues of governance because it has been proved that conflicts have been on the increase not only in African, but in some other places round the world. “You can trace the underlying factor to absence or lack of good governance issues of not respecting human and trade union rights and non-adherence to the principle of the Rule of Law.”