Political Briefs
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THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said the fight against corruption can only succeed if government takes adequate measure to remunerate workers and ensure prompt payment of salaries and allowances. It said the fight against corruption was being eroded by vindictive actions against whistle-blowers by government agencies while government officials look the other way.
In a communiqué at the end of its National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Sokoto, the congress condemned what it termed vindictive action being taken whistleblowers.
Hailing the government for its tenacious fight against corruption, the NLC said a lot still needs to be done to win the fight, citing instances of the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Owerri and Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, where corruption was being allegedly rewarded while whistle-blowers are punished.
It condemned in strong terms the vindictive actions being carried out against whistle-blowers in the two federal institutions, including the termination of appointments of 23 workers at FUNAAB and expressed dismay at the failure of the ministries of health, justice and the office of the President to respond to the complaints of vendetta brought before them.
It said it might be compelled to act in defense of its members if government fails to take the necessary steps. In the communiqué signed by Ayuba Wabba, its president and Peter Ozo-Eson, general secretary, the NLC stressed that its position has been justified as it had warned that tying the pump price to the price of crude in the international market and the black market exchange rate was not sustainable. It resolved to engage government, saying that the citizens and the private sector could not afford the burden of another round of increase since it would substantially affect the cost of production.
It resolved to begin sensitisation of its members and allies in anticipation of a formal announcement of an increase, while resolving to do self-cleansing as well as review its strategies and tactics to achieve maximum effect in subsequent protest rallies. The union expressed concern over the continued poor quality of service, arbitrary charges, unwillingness of DISCOs to make available to consumers prepaid metres, deficit of technical competence and lack of capacity to turnaround the energy sector owing to a funding gap of N1 trillion.
It expressed concern over the campaign by the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors to hike tariff by 200 percent, adding that if allowed, it would amount to crude, outrageous exploitation of consumers, gross insensitivity and undermining of the national productivities, capacity and security.
It condemned the government, NERC and the DISCOs for not obeying a valid court judgement on tariff increase as well as other processes that constitute conditions precedent to the smooth, efficient and fair running of the sector to all the stakeholders. It asked the government to review the privatisation exercise in the energy sector in view of the continued overwhelming challenges in the energy sector.
On the demand for a new national minimum wage and pensions by workers, the congress said developments in the economy such as the increase in the pump price of petroleum products, uncommon rise in prices of commodity, increased tariff in utilities, and social services such as education, among others, have made the demand for the new minimum wage more urgent.
According to them, the fight against corruption would be more successful if workers were properly paid, adding that the government was foot-dragging in constituting a committee to deliberate on its demand.
It said: “The need for a new national minimum wage cannot be overstated in light of the outlined facts and accordingly urged the government to urgently review upward the national minimum wage, or speedily constitute a Tripartite Committee to deliberate on its demand for a new national minimum wage, warning that further delay could seriously impair peaceful industrial relations.”
On the economy, the congress expressed concern over the free-fall of the Naira and the abortive efforts by the Central Bank to arrest this fall. It added that the massive devaluation and attendant inflation have brought harm and pain to millions of families in the country.
The NLC urged the government to comprehensively reform its budget process as well as put in place a transparent and accountable system in line with the principles of good governance and sustain its war against corruption by ensuring good governance and the prosecution of all corrupt cases and recovery of stolen funds.
— Dec 5, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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