The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress has criticised the Federal Government for adopting economic policies against workers welfare to address the current recession in the country.
Mr. Ayuba Wabba said this during the 14th NLC’s Rain School with the theme, ‘The Labour Movement and an Alternative Development Strategy,’ in Uyo on Monday. He stressed that the economic prescriptions of the Central Bank to devalue the naira, increase the pump price and increase taxes have been largely ineffective.
An economy that is technically in recession
“The challenge before all of us is an economy that is technically in recession and our government didn’t seem to get their acts right. Because if you look at the responses, it is geared towards taking away the gains that we have been able to make over the years.
“These are the only reasons they see in attending to the issues of the recession but I think we have options and those options are issues that we consider at this session. Comrades, it is important also for us to remain vigilant and get connected to our rank and file.
The challenge before us is the issue of how to fix the economy
“The challenge before us is the issue of how to fix the economy because until the economy is doing well, it becomes difficult even for us as the working class to also do well. As I said earlier, the minimum wage is long overdue. As you are aware, we have put formally before government a platform to be created for us to engage the system through a tripartite system as provided by the law.
“Since that request was made, I think we had only one meeting where they said well, we are going to constitute the tripartite committee. As I speak to you today, that tripartite committee has not been put in place. And therefore delay also means that they are trying to sabotage or make sure that we don’t get our rights. We are going to start agitation immediately.
No worker can sustain a family with N18,000
“With N18,000, certainly, there is no worker that can sustain a family even for a period of two days. In fact, the minimum wage cannot take you home, that is the reality. Therefore, we must be ready to take our destiny into our hands and be ready to engage this people. We must not all
