Labour to FG : Fight unemployment, insecurity, debt burden vanguardngr.com vanguardnews
—Organised Labour, yesterday, asked the Federal Government to address federal and states’ debts, rising inflation, insecurity and infrastructure deficit confronting the nation.
‘’A breakdown of the debt stock revealed that the Federal Government of Nigeria’s external debt increased by 42.69%, from N4.527 trillion in 2017 to N6.460 trillion in 2018. About two-thirds of the government’s revenues go into servicing interest payments, with the principal still waiting for redemption at maturity.
‘’Despite the best efforts of government to diversify the economy, attract foreign direct investment, increase our foreign exchange revenue and create more jobs, these efforts are being frustrated by systemic challenges. ‘’The impact of the prevailing hyper-inflation on our pensioners and workers is better imagined than experienced. Working families are unable to meet up with the basic costs of living especially feeding and decent accommodation thus plummeting living standards to an all-time low.
‘’We must develop a national consciousness and culture that frown at exporting raw materials without value addition. We call on all tiers of government in Nigeria to provide incentives to drive and sustain the growth of labour-intensive industrial sector. ‘’We also call for a robust and sustainable response to renewed security concerns in Nigeria even if that means an increase in the budget for internal security so long it is judiciously and transparently used.’’While reflecting on the state of the economy, Wabba observed: “Despite promising nature of Nigeria’s economy, our economy is yet to be weaned from import dependency.
In the bid to industrialise the nation’s mono-product economy and address the increasing unemployment rate which currently stands at 43%, the Labour chief also urged President Buhari’s administration to “emulate the tested and proven prototypes elsewhere in places as Singapore, Argentina, Brazil, India and China to attract relevant production lines and labour-intensive industries to Nigeria.
“Furthermore, the release of capital budgets should be tied to performance based on job certification. This is a fundamental way of tackling official graft and ending the regime of arbitrariness and indiscretion in public finance management.
‘’We doff our hats for the National Assembly for demonstrating good faith in their dealings with Nigerian workers. They stood by us and fulfilled their promises to us as the legislative processes wound its way through both chambers. ‘’We also warn private sector employers to immediately comply to avoid unsavory consequences. All Nigerian workers must remember that we did not get to this level by charity but struggle. We can only conclude it favourably by being ready at all times to defeat the forces of wickedness that would not want Nigerian workers to earn decent wages.”
‘’He set up an electoral review process which culminated in the 2015 watershed elections. The President must do the same and then use that as a platform to launch a campaign to purge our electoral system and bequeath to the nation an electoral process that would be more acceptable to all Nigerians in the future. That is a legacy he must seek to bequeath this nation.”
Buhari, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, said: “On assumption of office in 2015, in spite of the daunting economic challenges, which confronted us at the time, we ensured that no worker was retrenched across the country. “Our Social Investment Programme is the largest of its kind in Africa, and it is directed at ensuring that we are able to provide opportunities in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.”
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