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Shock as NLC President endorses Gov Sylva
for second term
Sun March 20,2011
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has endorsed Bayelsa State
Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva,
for a second term in office following his numerous
achievements, especially in the area of labour relations. The
NLC National President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar made the
endorsement during a courtesy visit on the Governor in
Government House, Yenagoa. Omar lauded Governor Sylva for
promising to provide a befitting secretariat complex and buses
to the state council of the NLC.
 This
endorsement comes as a surprise to some observers
because Labour Party ,LP
is also fielding a
candidate in the April gubernatorial elections .Timi Alaibe, a
close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan decamped from the PDP
to vie for election on the platform of LP. But labour leaders
who seem to have had a longstanding romance with Sylva appear to
have chosen to align with the incumbent rather than
support an LP candidate.
 The
NLC President listed some of Governor Sylva’s achievements in
the area of labour to include prompt implementation of the
consolidated salary structure for civil servants, new teachers’
salary structure (TSS)
and the new salary structure for judiciary workers.
Others are the immediate implementation of consolidated Health
Salary Structure, the new salary scale for members of the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Niger Delta
University (NDU) chapter, payment of arrears to workers as well
as the payment of thirty thousand naira Christmas bonus to
workers across.
Omar said with all of these that the governor had done, it was
only proper for him to seek re-election to continue to improve
the lot of workers in the state. He explained that he was in the
state to express labour’s appreciation to Sylva for what the
governor had been doing for labour in the state and his
magnanimity in providing a bus at the recent NLC conference in
Abuja.
Describing Sylva as a labour-friendly governor, the NLC
President called on the governor to intervene in ensuring that
President Goodluck Jonathan signs the minimum wage bill into
law.
In his response, Sylva said as soon as the minimum wage Bill is
signed in to Law, the state government will study it along with
the labour movement in the state. As a firm believer in the
importance of human resource, the governor expressed
government’s commitment to the welfare of workers, pointing out
that one of the legacies his administration intends to leave
behind is a befitting secretariat for labour in the state.
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