Kaduna State Government has reacted to the notice of strike issued by labour unions, saying it would not succumb to blackmail.
The Organised Labour had issued notice of five days warning strike beginning from Sunday.
The strike is over alleged refusal of the state government to follow laid down rules in the recent sack of some civil servants.
The government, however, gave the warning on Saturday in Kaduna, through the state Head of Service, Bariatu Muhammed, and the Commissioner, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Jafar Sani.
It dismissed the threat by labour unions to shut down critical services as a futile gesture, warning that it would not condone any disruption of essential services in the state as a result of the strike.
The government also said that the warrant of arrest it issued in 2017 of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, still subsists, over alleged vandalism of government facilities.
According to the government, the trade unions planned to use hoodlums during the strike to disrupt the peace of the state and had notified security agencies to take action.
“As is appropriate, the security agencies have been notified of the plans of some trade unionists to recruit hoodlums, including from other states, to create a destructive spectacle and further their self-serving narrative about public service jobs and insecurity.”
The government insisted that the sack of civil servants was necessitated by dwindling revenues.
“Thus, it is not sustainable to persist in spending 84% to 96% of its FAAC receipts on salaries and personnel costs as has been the experience of the state since October 2020.
“This government was not elected to devote most public funds to paying government workers and treat that as its defining governance mission, to the detriment of developing the state and its people.”
The government explained that the rightsizing of the public service would affect political appointees and civil servants.
“The necessary verification of credentials for full implementation of this painful but necessary decision is still being done.
“It has not determined the total number of officers that might be affected by the decision. Neither has it stopped paying the minimum wage, despite the prompting of the denizens of sentiment who have urged it to suspend payment and thereby violate the national Minimum Wage Act.”
