The Kaduna branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) led by the national President Ayuba Wabba brought all economic and social activities in Kaduna to a halt after they embarked on street protest.
Ayuba and the union leaders had last week vowed to be present in the state to monitor a five-day warning strike ordered by the NLC over the retrenchment of over 45,000 civil servants and the anti-labour policies of the Nasir El-Rufai administration.
The warning strike by labour started at midnight on Sunday. Hours before its commencement, affiliates of the NLC, including the National Union of Electricity Employee (NUEE) and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), had cut electricity and petroleum product supplies to the state, The Nation reports.
Also joining the demonstrations were aviation unions under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE).
The labour leaders and workers had before taking to the streets from the state NLC secretariat on Golf Course Road gone round to lock up the gates of key government ministries and agencies.
At the Kaduna State Secretariat Complex, which hosts about 10 ministries, Wabba addressed the workers on the essence of the strike. Immediately after, the union leaders shut down the complex, but security personnel later forced the main gate open.
From the complex, Wabba led the union leaders and workers to the state House of Assembly where the protest terminated for the day.
Ayuba had while addressing the workers at the NLC secretariat dismissed the threat by the state government to arrest him, saying he cannot be intimidated.
Noting that workers’ right to protest is enshrined in the African Union Charter and Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, the NLC president said anyone who wanted to intimidate him and other union leaders should rather go after bandits.
