By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
ABUJA— PETROLEUM and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, weekend, said the recent Anti-Labour Bill sponsored by Senator Heineken Lokpobiri had further demonstrated that some members of the National Assembly lack basic knowledge of history and governance.

The association, in a statement, said with people as Lokpobiri and Ayogu Eze, whom it said lacked sense of history, holding political power, Nigeria would continue to retrogress, saying “it is a tragedy of our so-called democracy that we have people today holding the reins of power that not only lack a sense of history, but, indeed lack basic knowledge of governance.

PENGASSAN, in the statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Zaid Kolawole,  reminded the sponsor and promoters of the Anti-Labour Bill that the “appropriate legislation dealing with strikes and other forms of industrial action or disputes is the Trade Disputes Act (Cap T8 LFN, 2004) and not the Trade Union Act.

“We would, therefore, urge Senator  Lokpobiri and his supporters in the Senate to remove the log in their eyes first before attempting to blow off the speck in others’ by consulting their constituents on pending issues and indeed amend the Senate rules such that their constituents vote and agree on issues before senators vote on them in the Senate in this way they would truly be representing the people.

”We know this latest attempt at muzzling the only credible bulwark against bad governance will not stand as evidenced on the floor of the Senate by the principled stand taken against it by the majority of senators.”