Nigeria @ 59: Nigeria will be sitting on time bomb if… — NLC president

…Demands national recognition for Enahoro, Imoudu

At 59, the president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has warned that Nigeria will be sitting on a time bomb if it fails to address the issues of under-development, inequality, high-level unemployment of the Nigerian youth population, power generation and incentives to enable both public and private industries to thrive.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune in an exclusive interview on the Independence Day celebration, Wabba regretted that many manufacturing industries that heralded Nigeria’s independence and provided decent jobs for Nigerians till 1980s had closed down.

According to Wabba, the concerns of the workers were like that of any other Nigerian, ranging from poverty, unemployment, injustice, high-level of inequality, lack of adequate security  and poor welfare.

“Today, we can count industries that are still standing. Therefore, we must create an opportunity for those industries to thrive, we must provide incentive to them. If the cost of power is still high, they cannot compete, most of them will close down. If they have to substitute the power rate with their generators, the cost of production will be high and many of them have cried out.

“So, we have to look at this issue and fix the power, dedicate power to them, give incentives so that those companies can come in and then, our country will prosper. Without these, then we are sitting on a time bomb.

“Anywhere in the world where you have a youthful population (18-35 years), they are the majority of the population. So, we must cater for them in order for us to have a prosperous nation with peace, stability and development.

“Without peace, there cannot be development. So, those are the critical issues. We must find ways of creating jobs for the millions of youths and other Nigerians,” he said.

He further highlighted the concerns of Nigerian workers as the country celebrates its 59 years of independence.

“The concern of Nigeria workers is like any other Nigerian. It is the space of development and level of inequality and lack of jobs. That is the most important thing because the primary purpose of governance and the sovereignty of every country is the security and most importantly, the welfare of the people.”

He pointed out that if the welfare of the people is not taken care of, there is a serious challenge and that should be a major concern.

He, however, stated that these problems, especially the issue of under-development, lack of jobs and welfare of Nigerians can be fixed if they are accorded major priority by the government.

The Labour union also demanded national recognition for the late Chief Anthony Enahoro, Pa Michael Imoudu and all other notable Nigerians who fought for the independence of the country, but are yet to be so recognised.

In particular, Wabba, stressed the need to recognise Chief Enahoro, then very young Nigerian, who historically moved the first motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1957.

He also wanted such recognition for Pa Imoudu, known as labour leader number one, who led the first major strike by the railway workers during the struggle for independence.

Wabba stressed that Nigeria and its people should continue to celebrate the Independence Day, “but make it a difference, where we can teach the generations that are coming, including this generation that have not benefitted from fun and pageantry of celebrating the essence of our independence to continue to do so.”

The NLC president regretted that the new generation of Nigerians does not know the significance of independence, what was the struggle and who led the struggle for the independence.

Going forward, the NLC president said Nigerians must work in unity and continue to look at what are actually the principles of the founding fathers, adding that “what were their aspirations, what were their thoughts, what were their plans for Nigeria as a country?”

According to him, it was a time for sober reflection.

Comments

comments