02 APRIL 2014www.punchng.com
Labour union protests ALSCON’s shutdown
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Thousands of protesters, who are members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, on Monday protested the shutdown of Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria plant in the Ikot Abasi, Ikot Abasi Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.
The protesters, who blamed the organisation’s Russian management for the development, staged their protests on major streets in Uyo before moving down to the Government House.
They said ALSCON’s shutdown was an act of economic sabotage by the management of the organisation.
Chairman of the state NLC, Mr. Uyime Usoro, said shutting down the only smelting plant in West Africa was an act of economic sabotage as it was accompanied by massive retrenchment of workers.
He lamented that the privatisation process of ALSCON had defeated the employment generation initiative of the government.
Usoro rejected the company’s excuse that the plant was shut down because of lack of gas required for production.
He said, “The company is re-positioning itself to sell power to Nigerians using gas; whereas the lack of it was blamed for shutting down the plant.”
He asked the company’s management to pay severance benefits of N2.3bn, representing 85 per cent of the total liability to the redundant workers.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, promised to take their grievances to the Federal Government, while also urging ALSCON management to take advantage of the gas produced by the state government to power the plant.
“I can assure you that I am not going to rest until we resolve this matter and will not want ALSCON to be closed down,” he stated.
Protesting youths burn two churches in Katsina
Meanwhile, protesting youths on Monday burnt down two churches at Tudun Wada, Funtua Local Government Area, Katsina State.
The protest started after a teacher was accused of teaching the SS2 students lessons that were “blasphemous” in Islam.
It was learnt that the angry youths initially wanted to burn down the school, but were prevented by security operatives.
The youths then set the two churches on fire instead.
One of the churches was mentioned as St. Theresa Catholic Church in Tudun Wada.
Efforts to speak with the school authorities were not successful as the school was surrounded by the police and military personnel, who had also taken over the town.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the Katsina State Police Command, Aminu Abubakar, were unsuccessful as he did not pick his calls.
The protesters, who blamed the organisation’s Russian management for the development, staged their protests on major streets in Uyo before moving down to the Government House.
They said ALSCON’s shutdown was an act of economic sabotage by the management of the organisation.
Chairman of the state NLC, Mr. Uyime Usoro, said shutting down the only smelting plant in West Africa was an act of economic sabotage as it was accompanied by massive retrenchment of workers.
He lamented that the privatisation process of ALSCON had defeated the employment generation initiative of the government.
Usoro rejected the company’s excuse that the plant was shut down because of lack of gas required for production.
He said, “The company is re-positioning itself to sell power to Nigerians using gas; whereas the lack of it was blamed for shutting down the plant.”
He asked the company’s management to pay severance benefits of N2.3bn, representing 85 per cent of the total liability to the redundant workers.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, promised to take their grievances to the Federal Government, while also urging ALSCON management to take advantage of the gas produced by the state government to power the plant.
“I can assure you that I am not going to rest until we resolve this matter and will not want ALSCON to be closed down,” he stated.
Protesting youths burn two churches in Katsina
Meanwhile, protesting youths on Monday burnt down two churches at Tudun Wada, Funtua Local Government Area, Katsina State.
The protest started after a teacher was accused of teaching the SS2 students lessons that were “blasphemous” in Islam.
It was learnt that the angry youths initially wanted to burn down the school, but were prevented by security operatives.
The youths then set the two churches on fire instead.
One of the churches was mentioned as St. Theresa Catholic Church in Tudun Wada.
Efforts to speak with the school authorities were not successful as the school was surrounded by the police and military personnel, who had also taken over the town.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the Katsina State Police Command, Aminu Abubakar, were unsuccessful as he did not pick his calls.
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