NLC, TUC urge government to tackle widening unemployment, insecurity

The Organised Labour has called on government at all levels to address the increasing unemployment and insecurity in the country.
Ayuba Wabba, President, Nigeria Labour Congress, made this call at the 2018 May Day celebration for workers in the country on Tuesday in Abuja.
The theme for the May Day Celebration: “Labour Movement in National Development: Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win’’.
Wabba called on the government to improve on the security intelligence across the nation.
He said that the unemployment rate in Nigeria has increased to18.80 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 from 16.20 per cent in the second quarter of 2017.
According to him, the crisis of widening unemployment in Nigeria has been exacerbated by indiscriminate sack and retrenchment of workers by some public and private employers.
He said: “Unfortunately, the different levels of government that should be more concerned about protecting our people are the ones leading the campaign to push more Nigerians into the unemployment market.
“That is why unemployment has remained high with an alarming proportion of our youth jobless.
“The few that have a semblance of employment operate under very precarious conditions denoted by job insecurity, poor work conditions and gender discrimination.
“The trend of factory closures has continued to spiral out of control turning our once lively centres of economic productivity into worship and entertainment centres.”
The NLC president noted that the increase rate in unemployment has led to escalating poverty in the country.
He said that more than 70 per cent of the populations live below the poverty line.
Wabba said: “In fact, a number of international economic reports forecast that despite the significant difference in our population size, Nigeria may soon overtake India as the poverty capital of the world.
“The reasons for endemic poverty in Nigeria are not far-fetched. Our economic structure does not provide the enabling space for mass industrialisation imbued with the capacity for sustainable jobs.
“Our public policies and consumption pattern still encourage the export of jobs and the import of poverty.”
Wabba noted that iindustrialisation was a key driver of sustainable jobs and development for national economies and the foundation of good living standards.
NLC president noted that millions of youth join the labour market annually without jobs, making them voluntary slaves to Europe and America.
He said that only industry can provide sustainable jobs, living wages and necessary revenues for government to provide the needed infrastructure for development.
He said that for Nigeria to meet the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, especially SDG 9 dealing with industry and innovation, Nigeria must urgently innovate, revive closed textile, steel and engineering mills.
He said: “We must industrialise. We must copy China’s industrialisation drive which has within 20 years moved over 250 million people out of poverty through manufacturing and industrialization.
“We must stop exporting raw cottons, crude oil, mineral resources only to be importing finished textile, petroleum products from China, Europe and America.
“Nigeria must make what it consumes, otherwise it will be consumed by the rest of the world.”
He commended the Federal Government for refusing to succumb to the Economic Partnership Agreement.
Wabba also commended the cautious approach of the government to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
He said: “The NLC is delighted that a broad and an inclusive group has been constituted to re-examine the contents of the CFTA in the overall interest of Nigerians.”
He called on the government to massively invest in energy mix of hydro, solar and nuclear to drive industrialisation.
He added that we wish to call for a reduction of tariff duties on solar panels and other solar products instead of the recent increase in these duties.
Speaking, Bobboi Kaigama, President, Trade Union Congress, called on the Federal Government to fully implement the National Automotive Policy initiative.
Kaigama added that if we can get the automobile sector right, it will contribute meaningfully to the economy in terms of job creation.