*Says anyone that takes salary and joins strike will pay back because “Nigeria’s law says ‘no work, no pay’”
By KEMI KASUMU
Governor of Kaduna State, North West Nigeria, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, is not one to take nonsense especially when it comes to issues of performances, duty and labour as, recent records showed, he believes that once his administration has not deprived any worker his rights and benefits in terms of salary and others, any one that joined mainstream labour strike to punish the state will see the red side of the government.
On Wednesday, he displayed this leadership clout in an electronic media interview during which he threatened to sack all the Kaduna State University (KASU) lecturers if they continue to observe the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike that has grounded academic activities in universities across the country.
El-Rufai, responding to a labour action in the past, had said as an association, Nigeria Labour Country cannot force Kaduna State civil servants to partake in strike action because membership is voluntary.
It will be recalled that ASUU has been on strike since February over what it described as the failure of the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government that started in 2015 to honour agreement reached with preceding administration in 2009.
Many attempts by the government to make the lecturers return to the classrooms have yielded no results to the extent that, on Tuesday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commenced a nationwide protest that it mobilized several other unions to join in solidarity with ASUU, adding that it would start a three-day labour strike if the FG failed to do the will of ASUU.
However, speaking on a radio programme in Kaduna on Wednesday, Governor el-Rufai told the lecturers of the state university to return to classrooms in order to avoid having their positions declared vacant, adding that Kaduna State University (KASU) lecturers had no reason to join any strike.
According to him, ASUU had a problem with the Federal Government, not the Kaduna State Government.
The Governor said: “ASUU had a problem with the Federal Government, not the state government. I see no reason why lecturers of Kaduna State University will be on strike since we are paying them appropriately, if this continues, we have no option than to sack all of them.
“The Acting Vice Chancellor has assured me that they will resume, but I have asked them to find out if they actually resumed work, because I initially instructed that their salary be stopped. But I was later told they didn’t join the strike, so I asked that it should be investigated and those that collected salary and joined the strike will be asked to refund the salary.
“This is because Nigeria’s law says ‘no work, no pay’. This is the law. So whoever joined the strike will not be paid a salary. We have been telling the KASU lecturers that they have no problem with the State government. ASUU’s problem is with the Federal Government. Therefore, why will our staff who have no problems with us join the strike?
“If this continues, I will wake up one day to sack them all, I swear to God. We will sack them all and declare their positions vacant on the pages of newspapers. They once did the same thing and we gave them warning, now they repeated it. I’m only waiting to receive the report from the Commissioner for Education. I swear to God, we will sack all those that joined the strike if they refuse to resume work.”
