Prof. Agu Gab Agu, a professors of law and lecturer at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), has called on workers to be patriotic in spite of their condition of service.
Prof. Agu made this call while speaking with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Thursday in respect of the International Workers Day.
The Professor said that every May 1 is set aside to celebrate workers tireless efforts to the growth of world economy all over the world and advised workers in Nigeria to be patriotic in service with hope of better days ahead.
”Nigeria workers should hope that one day their condition of work will change for the better.
”I believed that as the days go by Nigeria will have leaders who will understand the plight of their workers.
”More so, the country’s economy would favour the workers because workers have suffered in this country,” he said.
Agu expressed dismay on the way workers were being treated by their employers.
”Ones we begin to respect humanity and looking at workers as human beings and not seeing them as mere slaves paid to do their work things will be made easy for the workers and their employers and that will boast production.
”Workers are supposed to be treated well as the main product to the produce because without them there will be no production, ” Agu advised.
He regretted the non-physical celebration of Workers’ Day adding that it was to observe government’s directives on COVID-19 to avoid the spread.
Agu urged Nigeria workers to always observe the precautionary measures against the coronavirus pandemic spread.
He noted that the Federal Government’s pronouncement that workers resume work on May 4 (Monday) was a step in the right direction and, however, expressed concern about the poor means of transportation.
”That is nice to avoid total crumbling of our country’s economy but my biggest fear remains that the means of going to the work place and coming back is not there,” he noted.
He said that the decision would affect those civil servants that were not mobile as they would have to enter public transportion to their work places and back.
”At the place of work, social distancing can be maintained but what about places such as Lagos and Abuja where the population density is high.
” Everybody needs to be conscious of the pandemic as life is precious to be wasted,” Agu said.
He noted that one of the biggest weapons of coronavirus is psychological effect and “we do not need to succumb to it because it kills.’’
Agu advised workers to tread with caution while going to work on May 4, by observing all the precautionary measures.
