President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW ), Alhaji Tajudeen Baruwa, has appealed to the federal government to find a lasting solution to the lingering leadership crisis in the union through its ongoing reconciliation process.
The plea came three weeks after the federal government and labour signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU ) and agreed to resolve the impasse before October 13, 2023.
Baruwa who spoke at a valedictory meeting in honour of the retiring general-secretary of the union, Comrade Anthony Asogwa in Abuja, said the minister of labour and employment, Simon Lalong, took sides with the Tajudeen Agbede-led group despite the allegation being rebutted by the minister.
Baruwa said the union still believed in the reconciliation process and awaited the federal government’s intervention to resolve the crisis despite the elapsed date.
He maintained that the purported conference of October 25, 2023 and the all zonal delegates conference of October 5 that the Agbede group was using to legitimise their cling to the national headquarters of the union was not only illegal but inconclusive and that any swearing in of the officers and the appointment of the deputy as acting president remained null and void.
“We still call on the minister of labour to look into the issue very well to see that no union member is above the constitution of the union which we operate with, we still believe in the ongoing negotiations with our leaders in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC )” he said.
Earlier, Asogwa who has served the union for the period of 41 years, thanked all the union leaders both past and present for the opportunity given to him to serve in various capacities.
