Organised labour on Monday called on the Federal Government to strengthen policies and programs that will see to the immediate revitalisation the economy and guarantee hope for the citizens.
The call formed part of the demands put forward by labour as they joined workers across the world to mark the 2017 May Day in Abuja, Lagos and other states.
This was as the governor of Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode who joined public and private sectors’ workers at the Agege Stadium, pointed to the negative impact of industrial unrest by workers, warning that such could only worsen the economic situation rather than solve the myriads of issues plaguing the national economy.
“I want to seize this opportunity to urge the organised labour to continue to show understanding while rightly insisting on the due and just entitlements of their members. This is because; any industrial unrest will compound the challenges of economic recession.
“Our administration is aware that, in order to deliver effective and efficient service to the people, officers of the Lagos State public service must be continually equipped with the necessary competencies and skills. Our government and other stakeholders in the management of our economy will continue to double efforts and explore innovative means of addressing the economic recession in order to make life abundant and worthwhile for the Nigerian workers who are the real engines of growth in our country,” said Ambode.
At the National Stadium, Surulere, where unions affiliated to United Labour Congress (ULC) converged for the workers’ day, Joe Ajaero, their president, stressed the urgent need for the Federal Government to reflate the economy. According to Ajaero, who is advocating N96,000 minimum wage, rising costs of living, stagnation, job losses, absent of electricity, ill-equipped schools and healthcare institutions, unstable naira have all combined to unleash hardships on workers. He noted that well thought-out policies and the political will to implement them were required to arrest the downward economic trend.
“Nigerians need to see actions on the ground and not intentions and talk shops. It is the concrete steps that the people see that will rekindle hope and help the people stand together as a collective to wither this economic storm. The people want to know how the galloping inflation is being handled. They want to see new jobs or a guarantee that the spate of job losses have ceased. They want to see rice, garri, beverages and utilities especially electricity functioning and within their reach.
“We urge the government to make the economy work for the masses and workers of this nation and stop the present cornering of the national resources by a few greedy individuals thus closing the economic space against the suffering majority. It is only economic programmes that are pro-poor and pro-workers that are capable of driving our nation out of recession because, when these segment of the nation is empowered, purchasing power increases expanding aggregate demands which in turn causes a reduction in manufacturing inventories and stimulates further growth that drives the wheel of our economic progress. We make bold to say that, spending on the workers and the poor is the only way out of recession.
“Our monetary and fiscal policies are clearly working at cross purposes and would not deliver this nation out of recession as expected. There is therefore an urgent need to synchronise our monetary and fiscal regimes to create the needed boost to stimulate our economy and drive it out of economic recession.”
He, however, commended the Federal Government for working to defend the naira in the foreign exchange market, stressed that a lot still needed to be done to ensure a more appropriate rate that would help reduce inflation and stabilise national aggregates.
He said defending the naira without addressing the major areas that create negative pressures against it such as the continuous importation of refined petroleum products, was tantamount to fighting a lost battle.
“This singular factor can remove the pressure on the domestic currency by 50 percent and we do not understand why this has not been pursued vigorously by our leaders, Ajaero said.
JOSHUA BASSEY
