Godwin Amunde
The Director-General of Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF) – the umbrella body of Nigerian governors elected on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Salihu Lukman, has urged the Federal Government to decentralise the negotiation of wages and conditions of service to reduce if not eliminate the frequent shutdown of the economy by labour unions.
Lukman said this in a statement, titled: “Labour issues and need for reorientation in Nigeria,” in Abuja on Sunday in response to the ongoing industrial action by the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, (NARD).
Part of the statement reads: “The frequent strikes by Resident Doctors and health workers generally are unfortunate and avoidable and always lead to preventable deaths of patients in the country.
“A major challenge of Nigeria’s labour relations may have to do with issues of over centralization and institutional capacity to manage, regulate and facilitate negotiations and agreements.
“In the end, priority attention must be given to the issue of redefining Nigerian federalism to ensure that labour issues including negotiations for wages, terms of conditions for wages and terms of condition of service and resolving all challenges that come with it are moved to the concurrent list of the 1999 Constitution as amended.”
