Labour leaders reject declaration of state of emergency

The Nigeria Labour Congress has said the declaration of State of Emergency in some parts of the country’s northern region was not the solution to the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.
Abdulwaheed Omar, the NLC President, made this position known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.
Omar said the Federal Government should have a rethink in its approach in order to find a lasting solution.
He said that declaring a state of emergency means government has failed in the area of governance in the country.
He said: “If the Federal Government declares a state of emergency in those states as it did on Tuesday, it is better then that it declares a state of emergency against itself.
“If government thinks it has gotten to that, then it should have a rethink about itself because it is the duty of government to provide security for the people.”
Omar urged government to provide the necessary tools for the security agencies in order to curb the spate of violence in the country.
Similarly, Aliyu Wabawa, the President of Health Workers Union, told NAN that the state of emergency would only worsen the insecurity situation in the country.
Wabawa said: “It will only compound the problems.
“If we take a good look at the weapons used by the groups involved in the crises and the ones being used by men of the Nigeria Police, we will see that it is incomparable in terms of sophistication.
“We should not play politics with the issue. I think it is just a political statement and the outcome may be worse.
“Let’s see look back at the case of Jos in Plateau, and what is happening till now. Did the declaration of state of emergency in Plateau stop the killings? Definitely, no.”