Labour has threatened to mobilize workers for a nationwide strike to protest the planned borrowing of N17tn from pension funds.
NLC President Ayuba Wabba sent the warning at the 47th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) in Abuja.
Wabba statement comes after theNigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) had endorsed two proposals to borrow N17 trillion from two sources for infrastructural development.
Wabba, however, warned that the pension fund, which was the savings of workers ahead of their retirement from active service, must not be tampered with.
Wabba said: “Pension money is not for borrowing. Pension money is the retirement savings of workers. It cannot be borrowed. It’s like money in your savings account that nobody can borrow the money.
“I stand here to represent all of you. We are not going to agree; less than five per cent of the states are keying into the contributory pension. Yet they want to borrow the money. Bulk of the money is from Federal Government workers and private sector workers. So how do you want to borrow from where you have not sown?
“It’s not free money and let me sound a bit of warning. Any day that we hear the pension fund, our money has been borrowed, I will declare a protest and everybody is going to be on the streets to protect our hard earned money.
