The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday insisted on capital punishment for corrupt public office holders.

It opposed life imprisonment for treasury looters, saying the country was not ripe for it.

NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, spoke with newsmen in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, during a condolence visit to former vice president of the union, Issa Aremu, on the death of his mother, Hafsat.

He said: "We must canvass for capital punishment. It is only people who are stealing that will go against it.

"If we are campaigning for capital punishment and people are kicking against it, we must be consistent because people are reaping from where they have not sown.

"Except we begin to do the needful, it will be difficult to change our society. If you have followed up our argument, we have said clearly that part of why we are in this quagmire of challenges is that a lot of people have appropriated the resources that we need to drive development."

Wabba went on: "Schools are not developing; there are no drugs in hospitals. People have helped themselves and Nigerians are suffering.

"So we have the right to demand good governance and accountability. The major problem in Nigeria is corruption."

He said workers kicked against plea bargaining because "it will be an incentive to encourage treasury looters because the loot will be too much so that during the process of plea bargaining, they may just part with little."

On factionalisation within the union, he said the rift has been settled.

He explained: "The disagreement has been settled by the grace of God. We have settled and we are pushing ahead with a very strong force that all of us are, workers, citizens of this country will be happy with and you have seen the action we took, the protest which was for good governance and against corruption."