- The governor’s irritability undermined what might have been a good cause
Governor Nasir El-Rufai will do well to realise that governing a state requires a certain level of sobriety, and that not every matter is turned into a theatre, not even a theatre of the absurd that he made of the recent labour strike. Also worrying is that, in the name of a lean staff profile and economic discipline, he sought to sacrifice human wellbeing for systemic efficiency.
Yet it is not as if the Kaduna State governor did not hit at the bull’s eye of a contentious issue of governance: the size of the civil service and government workers. What the governor did in deciding to fire thousands of workers was undermined by his lack of discretion and due process.
Looking at the economics of the state, the Kaduna State governor made the point that the state cannot spend the larger chunk of its monthly revenue on salaries of barely a fraction of the state’s work force. It is economic injustice.
It is not the problem of Kaduna State alone. It is a nationwide malaise. Most governors are now bellyaching over the burden of state workers and the accompanying stress of pension backlogs.
But this was where politics outweighed reason in the past. Governors had often covered their inabilities to generate jobs by opening up artificial employments for the young and restless. They have done that in virtually every state. They also basked in an era of “free money” when oil wealth bulked up state revenues and encouraged indolence of mind of the chief executives and the political class.
They saw themselves as job creators and therefore economic successes. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the fall of oil prices and the search for fuel alternative, oil is losing its royal place in the world of finance and commerce, and it is affecting the ability of states to generate funds.
It is in that context that Governor El-Rufai clamped down on jobs. But he went about it the wrong way. It is time for imagination, not aggression. In a state wracked by banditry, how can he guarantee safety and peace when he throws thousands of workers out of job? Did he not know he was providing recruits for the daredevils in town?
He took an arbitrary decision of separating persons from their jobs. He could have done it by consulting labour, show them the state books and explain that a spirit of give-and-take would help towards a solution, either in a short term or long term.
Rather, he triggered the rage of labour, and worsened matters when he ordered the firing of nurses and lecturers. He became a sort of activist on the throne. Kaduna State became a tempest of exchanges between labour and government. The president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Aliyu Wabba, led workers on a street protest, and everyone saw it as legitimate except the governor who declared the NLC leader and his associates wanted over the Miscellaneous Offences Act. He did not read the law well. If he did, as some lawyers like Femi Falana, SAN noted, he would have realised that it is a federal law and he should have reported them to the police.
He wanted to turn his state into a version of military autocracy, a reminder of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) times when Labour leaders operated from hiding. The matter has yet to be resolved. The intervention of the labour minister, Chris Ngige, brought the matter to some quiet on a table of negotiation.
But the issue of over-bloated state staff still remains. It is a burden we shall have to deal with across the country. Unless that is done, the temptation to prune and stir workers resentment will come again. It is Kaduna today. Tomorrow will bear its own burden.
