Economy tops NLC’s 2017 Agenda for FG

The Nigeria Labour Congress has stated a number of expectations from the federal government in 2017, placing priority on getting the economy out of the doldrums.

The General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, advised President Muhammadu Buhari to address the plight of workers by commencing the process for the determination of a new Minimum Wage in the country.

Ozo-Eson, who spoke over the telephone, also advised the government to sustain the ongoing campaign against corruption, though in accordance with the ław

He said, “The single most important thing he (President Buhari) should do is that he should put his economic policy act together to fix the economy, get the economy out of recession. That is number one because it impacts on everything else.

“The other things that they would need to do from our own perspective are that they need to visit the plight of workers and then commence the process for the fixing of the minimum wage.

“Thirdly, we need to sustain the fight against corruption, but we need to carry that fight on within the ambit of the law.”

Ozo-Eson who also commented on the killings in Southern Kaduna said that the crisis was indicative of security breakdown across the country.

He criticized the government for failing to respond to reports of mass killings in Southern Kaduna stressing that the life of the average Nigerian should not be portrayed to be so cheap.

He argued that celebrating the exploits of troops in the North East especially the taking over of the Sambisa Forest would not translate to happiness if the defeat of one security threat was being marred by the emergence of several security threats in other areas of the country.

Ozo-Eson called for a comprehensive evaluation of the nation’s security into order to deal comprehensively with the causes of insecurity in the land.

“What is happening in Southern Kaduna is unacceptable, but it is part of a larger collapse of security across the country. We have been inundated with all manner of killings in various parts of the country, whether it is an attack of herdsmen, or attack of cattle rustlers, all manner of security breakdown across the country.

“And I think that this needs to be put into perspective. Nigerian life should not be regarded as so cheap that we hear of this massive killings and it does not ginger the government to act.

“We are celebrating the liberation, as it were, of the Sambisa Forest; we are right now celebrating the achievement of our military in fighting the Boko Haram, but if you are just defeating one security threat in one place and several of it are resurfacing in other places, then that does not call for happiness.”

However, he advised Nigerians against attributing the attacks to ethnicity, saying that such attacks should be situated within the larger breakdown of security across the country.