The Deputy National President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Isa Aremu, on Wednesday called for a special session of the National Advisory Labour Council to address the sour relations between government and workers in the country.
Aremu told newsmen in Kaduna after a fitness exercise to mark his 53rd birthday, that the tense labour relations in the country must be addressed in the interest of the nation.
The NLC chief said: “I suggest that the tripartite National Advisory Labour Council should this year convey a special session on collective bargaining and conflict resolution with governments, employers and labour as participants, to address all critical labour issues.”
He said the meeting should also focus on “sanctity of collective agreements by governments, mediation and conciliation in cases of disputes”.
Aremu said there must be a rethink on the part of labour on the resistance option “to ensure maximum benefits but minimum cost to the workers, citizens and economy as a whole”.
On the economy, the NLC chief said the Federal Government must revise its reform policy to engender confidence and imbue transparency.
“Already, there is crisis of confidence in the reform,” he said, adding that the government must ensure integrity and transparency in the process.
He noted the efforts of the administration in the power sector but said so far it had not generated the required impact that would propel Nigeria to be among the 20 developed economies of the world in the next six years.
Aremu said it was unacceptable that the nation was still gropping with power supply issues, adding that it was a major cause of the nation’s economic retrogression.
“Nigeria in recent times has witnessed unacceptable massive industrial divestment due to factories closures because of abysmal unstable, expensive power supply and in many cases non supply at all,” he said.
“In the long run, if the current non-supply of electricity persists, Nigerian economy might shut down altogether,” he added.
On the security situation in the country, Aremu urged all Nigerians to “cooperate with the President for Nigeria to overcome current security challenges as a condition for growth and development”.
He cautioned politicians against promoting violence and corruption.
“The present politics of corruption must give way to politics of development. All politicians must avoid violence and promote issue-based politics that voters can relate to,” Aremu said.
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