Lagos Assembly Clerk Begs Labour To Shelve Strike

The clerk of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Olalekan Onafeko, has appealed to the leadership of the Nigeria LabourCongress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to call off their planned nationwide protests and strike in the interest of the masses.

Onafeko called on the labour unions to reconsider their stand as embarking on strike would further heighten the hardship experienced across the country.

The clerk, who made the call yesterday at a training and capacity development programme organised by the National Assembly for its staff and labour leaders in Lagos, also bemoaned the effects of military administrations on legislative institutions in the country.

He, therefore, urged the leadership of the National Assembly not to relent in nurturing and developing the legislative workforce in order to ensure that Nigeria’s Legislature achieves the objectives for which it was established.

“Incessant truncation of democratic processes and institutions has left negative impacts on the development of the Legislature at the federal and state levels. Developing human resources becomes necessary, especially in the legislative arm of government in Nigeria, being the only neglected or isolated democratic institution whenever elected governments were toppled by the military junta.

“While this happened, only the executive and judicial arms of government were allowed to exist and, as such, enjoyed all privileges including training and development programmes for their staff,” he explained.