The National Labour Congress, NLC, has staged a nationwide protest over the alleged killing of their colleagues in Nasarawa State by security personnel.

All the protesting workers wore black hand band to mourn the deceased workers who were killed on July 29.

In Katsina State, the State NLC Chairman, Tanimu Saulawa and the immediate past Labour chairman Mutazu addressed the protesters, calling on the government to bring the security personnel that allegedly killed the two workers in Nasarawa state to justice.

Austin Chilakpu, the Imo state Chairman of NLC, condemned the action of the security personnel and sympathised with the families of those affected.

Also in Osun state, members of the labour union gathered to pray for the deceased members.

The State Chairman, Jacob Adekomi called on the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to carryout psychiatric tests on members of the police force to avoid such occurrences of killings of innocent people.

Members of the Union in Cross River State were not left out as they also marched along major streets in the Calabar metropolis, condemning the killing of their colleague and calling on the authorities to bring perpetrators of the act to book.

In Lagos State, the General Secretary of the Textile Workers Union, Isa Aremu, addressed the protesters on the reason for the protest.

He said: “This protest is to make a point that our governors, some of them, are becoming slave masters. They are no more governors.

“These three governors who are behaving like slave masters, namely Rochas Okorocha, Al-Makura, Ortom. I think we should use today to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call these governors to order.

“Because Labour issues are federal issues, they are on the exclusive list, not on concurrent list. No governor, no private employer should tamper with labour issues. When it comes to salaries and terms of employment, it’s a federal law, and Nigerian laws are clear…”

The workers criticised the policies by the Governors of Imo and Benue States, in which working days of the week were reduced in order to afford the workers more time to engage in farm work.

“Comrades, let me reaffirm here that Nigerian workers are Nigerian workers, they are not emergency farmers,” Aremu said.

“You gave workers letters of appointment as a clerk, messenger, driver, supervisor, nurses, teachers. You have not given them letters of appointments to become farmers.”

Aremu also criticized Al-Makura for the killing of two protesting workers by trigger-happy policemen in the State’s government house.

He demanded, on behalf of the NLC leadership, that Governor Al-Makura pay full compensation to the survivors and families of the slain workers, as well as withdraw the 50% reduction in workers’ salaries.

Recall that in July, two members of the NLC were killed at the Government House in Lafia while waiting for the outcome of a meeting between Governor Tanko Al-Makura and the labour union.

The meeting was to resolve the issue of a new salary policy introduced by the Nasarawa State government which had prompted workers in the state to embark on an indefinite strike.

However the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, had vowed to prosecute anyone found culpable in the alleged killings.

A statement by the Chief Information Officer of the NHRC, Fatimah Mohammed, said that the Commission would also ensure that the families of the slain persons as well as the injured ones would be appropriately compensated.