Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Ayuba Waba, has urged workers nationwide to stand by truth and support good governance in the country.
Waba made the call last Thursday in Jos when he led union leaders on a courtesy visit to Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State.
“Labour is to promote truth and good governance and any leader that is doing the right thing should be supported by workers”.
He said that many leaders in the country were not bothered about the plight of workers and the downtrodden in society.
Waba, who is in Jos for the National Civil Service Union seminar, however, commended Governor Lalong for clearing the backlong of salary and pension arrears of workers and pensioners in the state.
“You have done excellently well. You are a shining example of how leadership should be.
“You have cleared the six months salary arrears you inherited, you cleared pension arrears and the workers are very happy with you.
“You have started paying gratuities as well as no work, no pay arrears wrongly owed workers by the last administration”.
According to Waba, Plateau is one state that judiciously used the bailout and Paris Club funds.
Lalong, in his remarks, said that NLC leadership shared in his modest achievements because he sought their counsel in all that he did.
“In Plateau we don’t see workers as different people from government, we carry them along in all that we do, and we get advice from them on what to do.
“It is the cooperation of the workers that has taken us this far”.
The governor announced that he had given approval for the establishment of workers’ estate.
According to him, the estate will be on the priority list in the next tranche of Paris Club refund.
He told the NLC President that he considered the payment of salaries as a moral obligation that he must keep.
“Yesterday, I was at the NLC State Secretariat to see how the workers were faring and I observed that they were happy”, the governor said.