By: Felix Ikpotor
The Rivers State Government has reacted to the sealing of the secretariat of the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Port Harcourt.
The secretariat was reportedly sealed off at the weekend.
The Rivers State council of the NLC has been at loggerheads with the government over the new minimum wage with the state government saying it has complied with the law.
But, the NLC chairperson in the state, Beatrice Itubo said there was no agreement reached with labour on the percentage to be paid before the state government rushed to add some amounts to workers’ salaries in January as the new minimum wage.
Itubo had last week challenged the action of the government, insisting that government should provide the agreement reached with labour and the payment voucher it used in effecting the new wage.
A situation that pitched her against the government with the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Paulinus Nsirim insisting that government has complied with the law and further accused the labour union in the state of acting like politicians.
Nsirim further accused the union of being ungrateful to the Governor, Nyesom Wike for promptly implementing the new wage.
However, Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Projects, Alabo Dax George-Kelly in a statement on Monday debunked rumours that the NLC secretariat was sealed as a result of minimum wage related issues.
He described the report as untrue and also a calculated attempt at misleading the public against the genuine intentions of government.
He said: “As you may be aware, the NLC structure which was built pro bono by the Rivers State Government for Labour was completed and commissioned only a few months ago by the Bureau and it is our normal practice to carry out general inspections and structural integrity evaluation or tests before the expiration of the defects liability period. It is this activity that precedes the release of the 5% retention fees due any contractor 6 months or 1 year upon practical completion of the project. This is not new to every contractor or client in the construction industry”.
“In this case however, the contractor himself reported to the Bureau a structural defect which must be immediately fixed to avoid further deterioration/risks of incidents. The Bureau had to act expeditiously by giving him a go-ahead to conduct a thorough structural integrity evaluation in liaison with the Bureau’s in-house consultants; and of course this can only be done by first sealing off the place, because the place can not be in use while the exercise is on”.
George-Kelly who is also the Head, Bureau of Special Projects said: “It is uncharitable and ungrateful for anyone under the aegis of the NLC to misconstrue this exercise for a product of an imagined imbroglio between labour and government. This is sad!”
“It is worthy to mention that the subject matter being discussed was graciously provided for the union as a result the cordial relationship that exist between labour and government and I’m not in doubt of the continuity of that cordiality. The proponents of that outlandish news in our own thinking can best be described as uncharitable, ungrateful and rebellious”.
The SA insisted that: “the land was not revoked by government; the building was not seized by government. The Bureau is only carrying out it’s routine duty in ensuring that all infrastructure it provides are habitable and safe for use by our people and it’s our practice to seal off buildings when such exercises are being carried out”.
