NLC pledges proactive measures to protect workers in Kano

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in Kano state says it will adopt proactive measures to protect workers against exploitation by the employers.

NLC Chairman in the state, Mr. Kabir Minjibir, stated this on Wednesday in Kano, while reacting to the rescued of 126 workers allegedly held hostage by their employer.

The workers were rescued by the police at the Popular Farms and Mills Limited located in Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano.

Minjibir said that the NLC would take necessary action to ensure that the affected workers were adequately compensated and the culprits prosecuted.

He said: “The Food and Beverages Union briefed the state council on the development. It is annoying that there is no branch of the union in the company; the workers tried their best to form a leadership, a move resisted by the company.

“The Food and Beverages Union will investigate the matter and report back to us. We are ready to write to the relevant authorities concerned, to enable the workers form a leadership to protect their rights.”

Minjibir added that the council would also involve human rights bodies to look into the matter with a view to establish infringement of the workers fundamental rights.

“If the right of the workers were violated by the company, the human rights bodies will ensure that they are compensated,” he added.

The police command in the state said it had on June 21, received a complaint from the Global Community for Human Right Network, alleging that some labourers were wrongly confined inside the Popular Farms and Mills Limited.

The police said it conducted search in the company’s located at No. 54 Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano and rescued 126 workers.