A human rights activist, Mr Femi Aborisade, on Thursday called on governors and labour unions to show more concern about the incessant killings in the country.
Aborisade made the call at the 6th Quadrennial Oyo State Delegates Conference of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) held in Ibadan.
He spoke on the theme: “ Trade Union Leadership and Challenges of Good Governance in Nigeria.’’
The legal practitioner and the Chief Executive Officer of Abope Chambers in Ibadan, said one of the key challenges in the country was the collapse of the capacity of states to protect lives.
He added that governors of states where killings were high should do their best to intervene in the plight of the people.
“Lives are not safe again, if we don’t all rise now to fight incessant killings all over the country, they may escalate to the level where we can’t control them again.
“Labour unions should call for independent investigation of allegations of collusion by the army; trade unions must take collective action in defence of lives,” he said.
Also speaking, Abiodun Ajibade, the Oyo State Controller of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, urged workers to endeavour to get voters’ cards and elect the best leaders in 2019.
“ We can change this country if we can be united, N18,000 or any amount for minimum wage is nothing to the government but we must have one voice and fight for our right,” he said.
Earlier, AUPCTRE National President, Anthony Benjamin, represented by the union’s Vice President, Subair Muali, urged state governments, especially the Oyo State Government, to ensure that workers were not owed salaries.
Benjamin said the conference was the supreme authority and the highest decision making organ of the union in the state and holds every four years.
He noted that the conference had often afforded the union opportunity to evaluate projects ahead and elect fresh officers to direct activities of the union in the state for another four years.
Also speaking, the Oyo State AUPCTRE Chairman, Kolawole Eniola, said that the nation’s economy had been battered by large scale corruption.
Eniola also lamented the killing by herdsmen and insurgents, saying people were no longer safe in and outside their homes.
He expressed the hope that the government would come up with a policy that would encourage citizens to start farming programmes to save the economy from collapse.
The chairman thanked the Oyo state government for the release of the 2012 promotion letters and the conduct of promotion interview for civil servants for 2013 to 2016.
“We also appeal that the promotion exercise for 2017 should be conducted soon,” he said.
He further urged all delegates at the conference to conduct themselves in an orderly manner while deliberating on salient issues.
“The conference should be seen beyond election, all issues affecting the welfare of our members must be discussed extensively; election should be seen as a fraction of the business of the conference,” he said. (NAN)
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