Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Rivers State has threatened to withdraw services over the court order stopping the disbursement of financial allocations to the state.
On Wednesday, the Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from disbursing financial allocations to the Rivers State government.
The court held that monies from the federation account should not be released to the state pending the passage of a lawful Appropriation Act by a validly constituted House of Assembly.
Speaking with journalists after an emergency meeting with labour leaders, Rivers NLC Chairman, Alex Agwanwo, said the union condemns the judgment.
He added that the judge did not take citizens and workers into consideration before issuing the ruling.
“Everybody knows that taking allocation away from a state will put it into suffering. It will disrupt governance because it cannot take place without funds.
“It will affect workers in the state and local government levels. Even the private sector doing business will be affected.
“For us as a state council, we will not sit down and watch, so we are calling on judges that going forward they should put the masses into consideration.
“There is no politician that does not have a sister or brother working in the state. If they seize the allocation, are you going to be paying them?
“We condemn this judgement and we are saying whatever court that will take up this matter should reverse it. If this will affect the well-being of our members, we will have no option but to withdraw the service ,” Agwanwo said.
