RE: CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES WISELY…

THE TRUTH IS, “WITHOUT US, IT CANNOT BE ABOUT US”

https://thecitypulsenews.com/the-truth-is-without-us-it-cannot-be-about-us/

By Uba Haruna

When I first saw the above piece titled, “Choose your battles wisely…,” I was quickly attracted to read it particularly, because it had attached to it one of the quotes of C. JoyBell C. I was so enthusiastic believing I would enrich myself with some important life changing truths and information, little did I know that it was the ranting of a hungry attention seeker and one whose stuck in trade is serving as the chief attack dog of Gov Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai. Although he chose to use a pseudo name to conceal his identity yet his diction and style of writing betrayed him.

Had he restricted himself to issues against the Kaduna State Health Workers in his vituperations, raising cogent arguments, probably he either would have won me over or at best, I would have ignored the entire piece as a material not worthy of response, but it is obvious that he has an axe to grind with my amiable President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni since he went too personal. I am not sure that the person he thought he was trying to protect, Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State would find his piece in good taste. He has only succeeded in making more enemies for the governor than friends.

I have decided to briefly respond to straighten the records for the reading public to know that neither NLC and the president, nor the Kaduna State Health Workers hastily rushed into the decision to embark on a warning strike without any dialogue including writing letters with the Kaduna State government. There were series of meetings with relevant government representatives in addition to several letters written and addressed to government on the matter which tried to persuade government to refrain from deducting 25% of members’ legitimate salary which all fell on deaf ears.

In the first place, he ignorantly and falsely accused the NLC president of not carrying out routine cost-benefit analysis, which according to him, of the numerous protests the NLC was purportedly dragged into in the past, none was profitable. He was quick to foolishly describe Nigerian Labour Congress as an organized mob and as an organization lacking in intellectual capacity. Danjuma Musa said and I quote, “If only Wabba explores dialogue as opposed to force, which beyond energizing the base and creating the impression that something is being done, hardly yielded tangible results, but rather reinforces the image of labour as an organized mob and as an organization lacking in intellectual capacity, hence its constant resort to brute force, a more brawn than brain and pedestrian approach to issues.”

Danjuma Musa who pretends to be educated and intellectually sound simply exposed his crass ignorance and total lack of understanding of the modus operandi of the NLC. He is an applicant and also unemployable so how can an ignoramus like him know what is happening at NLC? He thinks that the president of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba runs the union the way his loquacious and disrespectful boss runs Kaduna State like a conquered territory without consultations with eminent leaders of thought and elder statesmen that Kaduna State is abundantly blessed with. Is it not true that even his Commissioners are tired of being used as rubber stamp whose job in the state cabinet is only concur to every pedestrian policy he brings to Council?

Let me educate this stomach infrastructure seeker who has lost relevance with his earlier chosen noble profession being the Fourth Estate of the Realm that at NLC, all decisions are thoroughly and professionally debated without intimidation or fear of harassment. They are also subjected to international best practice and eventually properly filtered by capable brains before conclusions are reached. NLC for your information is one of the topmost organizations in the country with the richest reservoir of highly educated professionals and first class brains across board. At NLC, no individual exhibits know-it-all tendencies which could deny the labour the benefit of a variety of excellent and beneficial ideas like your demi-god does in Kaduna State.

It is preposterous therefore, to claim that Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni, has never hidden his desire to “bring down El-Rufai.” What is there to be gained by the NLC president should he succeed in bringing down El-Rufai? Comrade Wabba is not an indigene of Kaduna State after all, so bringing down El-Rufai would never pave way for him to assume office as governor of the state. It is within the constitutional responsibilities of Comrade Ayuba Wabba as NLC President to always step out to speak for the union and its members regardless of tribe, political and religious affiliations.

Thus, to accuse the NLC president of being an enfeeble actor in labour matters is a further clear demonstration of Danjuma’s poor understanding of labour struggles as well as his deprived sense of judgment especially when he associated the president with opposition elements. This slowpoke should cure himself of ignorance and get educated on the fact that even his boss, El-Rufai benefitted from what can be termed labour’s activism, which helped him in no small measure to become governor of Kaduna State, a product which ordinarily would not have been touched with a long pole by the most uninformed electorate.

In his parochial reasoning, Dunjama alluded to the NLC strike action in 2017 and 2018 which he described as an “invasion” of Kaduna State to protest over the disengagement of the teachers who, according to government had badly failed the competency test administered on them. He shamelessly claimed that both the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRC) and the National Teachers Institute (NTI) were involved in that exercise whereas, that claim is false, malicious and mischievous. The question Danjuma must provide answer to is at what point did the Kaduna State Government eventually involve these two institutions (TRC and NTI)? It is obvious that the involvement of TRC and NTI was an afterthought, an action which took place only after tremendous pressure on the governor.


The most appalling aspect of the teachers’ competency test, sack and the purported recruitment of 25,000 new teachers is that two and half years down the line, both the newly recruited teachers and those who were recalled have not had their appointments made permanent until now. They are all casual staffs who were not told and until this moment they do not know their grade level of employment. Those El-Rufai teachers also have no salary scale. At the end of every month, whatever your wicked task master chooses to pay them as salary is what they would receive as salary alert for that month. Kaduna State citizens know that Gov El-Rufai did not employ more than 18,000 teachers but went on propaganda that he employed 25,000. I don’t want to comment on the over 3,000 workers in the state that your demi-god prematurely retired over two years ago, but up to this moment he has not deemed it fit to pay them their gratuity neither have they started receiving their pensions. Unfortunately, amongst those he prematurely retired or disengaged over two and half years ago are husbands and wives. This is cruelty of the highest order and that is the person you call a man with a compassionate heart. Your definition of compassion is demonic.

It is only an idiot like Danjum Musa who will advise the NLC president to turn his face the other way when there is a brewing crisis between the government and the health workers. That is akin to the NLC president abandoning his members or children, particularly those of his mother union (the Medical and Health Workers Union, MHWUN) when they need him the most. Like I said earlier, Danjuma the unemployable applicant does not know that in the labour world, injury to one is injury to all.

It is childish and absurd to even contemplate that Comrade Wabba can be planning to instigate the Kaduna State Chairman of the NLC because he belongs to his (Wabba’s) mother union, MHWUN into embarking on a frivolous strike action during this deadly COVID-19 pandemic. For crying out loud, these are unions with credible leaderships – having men and women of proven integrity and highly revered in the Nigerian society not like El-Rufai the rotten egg and a politician with integrity deficit.

On the 25% theft (unauthorised deduction) of Kaduna State workers’ salary that you, (Danjuma Musa) fraudulently called “misunderstanding” between the state government and the state health workers, which is highly regrettable, if your benefactor had any remnant of shame and dignity to protect, he should have known that Comrades Ayuba Wabba, mni, NLC president, Ayuba Magaji Suleiman, Kaduna State NLC Chairman and the rest of the leadership of the state NLC, MHWUN and others are only trying to save him from imprisonment after leaving office and ultimately, God’s inevitable judgment and condemnation for stealing from the wages of workers.



Recall that the decision by government to deduct 25% from workers’ salary was initiated and implemented before the leadership of NLC was called and regimentally informed though in the guise of a dialogue. What I am simply saying is that the governor was to go ahead with the deduction when he heard rumours of drums of war by workers. After all, it is the same workers who compute and prepare the salaries of the state workforce. He did the computations first without consultations to get workers’ consent.

As the month of April was running towards the middle, he was reminded that should he go ahead to release salary alerts to workers when he had not met with the leadership of NLC and the affiliating bodies to discuss the 25% deductions, it would be calamitous. That was what informed government decision to hurriedly summon labour leaders for that fraudulent meeting on 14 April where government announced the decision to deduct 25% of workers’ salary across board beginning from that same April – that is, in 15 days’ time.

There is no logic whatsoever in government’s warped reasoning to steal from workers in the name of making them show compassion. What compassion?



You may wish to know that the Kaduna State government has no legal or morale right to reduce workers’ salaries by 50%. The governor and his government cannot dare it! Yes, he could maliciously, impishly and ingloriously cash in on the temporary economic crisis and dwindling resources decide to downsize the work force, but never to reduce salaries by 50%, without the workers’ consent and not face crisis. Kaduna State workers are not conquered slaves. This is not how to influence people to show solidarity and generosity. Every act of generosity which is expected to receive the Almighty God’s blessings is not compelled but persuasive. You cannot coerce people into acts of generosity.

The demand by the health workers which Danjuma claims is at the root of the brewing crisis that 11,000 health workers be declared as been in the frontline and be paid between N150,000.00 to N450,000 is not a crime. Kaduna State is not the only state where health workers made this demand. Or is it not true that health workers are in the frontline of the COVID-19 war? Health, the wise say is wealth! It is only a healthy person who goes to school, works and does other life activities. It is also very obvious that health workers have made and are still making the greatest sacrifice of putting their lives on the line especially working with the scarcity of personal protective equipment (PPE). It is no longer secret that Kaduna State health workers are working as the most endangered species in the country. Failure therefore, to understand and appreciate this life sacrifices that the health workers are making is clearly the height of the lack education on the part of Danjuma and his know-it-all governor.

It is foolhardy to try to remind public servants that they are a minority segment of the population. Everybody in the state cannot be in the public service just like it is not every person in the state that will be governor. It is equally the ranting of an arrogant person to claim that citizens began to benefit from the resources of the state only when he became governor. On the contrary, as the maxim goes, “Soja go soja come, barracks remain,” we, workers are the barracks. We have seen governors who were by all standards better performers and democrats than the brat called Gov Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai who in fact, has only succeeded in destroying the solid socioeconomic, political, traditional and harmonious foundation laid by our past leaders. It is indeed a shame to be associated to this monumental disgrace and failure of the El-Rufai administration.

The Kaduna State Labour family refuses to be gullible or blackmailed into believing that El-Rufai has done workers any special favour by taking out unsolicited insurance cover and therefore should reciprocate by forfeiting 25% of workers’ legitimate salary. This government act of procuring unsolicited insurance cover for workers should not have attracted any unnecessary beating of the drum to seek the public or workers’ praise because it is nothing but the mere discharge of a government responsibility. No responsible father will go around saying he bought cloths for his children therefore, people should clap for him.

It is on record that in our bid to support government to fight COVID-19, Labour took a self-sponsored tour of all health facilities in the state – tertiary, secondary, and primary to ascertain the level of preparedness to curtail the pandemic. During the tour, we discovered that there is low level of preparedness in all the health facilities to deal with COVID-19. We equally discovered and reported the fact that PPE in the facilities were not available or grossly inadequate. The State Administrative Council of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Kaduna State chapter purchased and distributed hand sanitizers to all the tertiary, secondary, and primary health facilities in the state.



To put the record straight, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria Kaduna statehad contributed by supporting and sponsoring a training on covid-19 organised by State Ministry of Health with cash more than six hundred thousand naira and provided hand sanitizers to all its members, produces four thousand face mask to it's workers Also Nigeria Labour Congress distributed two hundred bags of 5kg rice, two hundred 2ltr of vegetables oil, two hundred bags of 5kg millet and sanitizers as palliative to some disengage workers, paid jingles as well as produced hands bills and posters on covid 19 to sensitize the public on the danger of corona virus in the state while Nigeria Medical Association produces hands bills and posters on COVID -19.

It is also on record that before embarking on the warning strike, Kaduna State NLC and the leadership of the Medical and Health Workers Union wrote many letters to government pleading for understanding and also took the pains to explain; trying to make government see reason why deducting 25% of workers salary is not the wisest thing to do. Labour even proceeded to offer 5% to be deducted but the government decided to deduct 25%. This is a clear case of a bagger putting his hands into someone’s pocket to remove alms. How can a bagger decide for the alms giver how much the giver should give?

It is embarrassing that while many other states and particularly poorer states especially in the north have doubled or tripled the hazard allowances of their health workers and are also paying them other moral boosting allowances, as motivation for the health workers to put in their best, Kaduna State government is slashing, nay stealing 25% of its workers’ salary, especially health workers’ who are at the frontline of the COVID-19 war. It is clear that by this ungodly act, the impish dictator, Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai and his government is implicitly pushing, provoking and encouraging health workers into negligence and display of lackadaisical attitude with their work towards the innocent patients who tested positive to the corona virus. What a shame!