FGs decision to sell public assets not well thought out, says ASSBIFI

Joy Obakeye

The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), has urged the federal government to rescind its decision regarding selling government-owned assets to finnace the 2021 budget.

According to the President of ASSBIFI, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, the plan to sell any assets now is as a result of uncoordinated policies, stressing that the long term effect will be more, owing to the significance of these assets to the country.

“These assets should be for the advantage of Nigerian citizens not to their disadvantage. We sold Power Holding Company of Nigeria, f (PHCN), and as at today we are having issues on electricity tariff and metering, and we could not fulfill the purchasing agreement, and the Federal Government couldn’t do anything about it.

“We also have issues with Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, and almost all the assets we have sold till date. I feel the government should not think about selling assets,” she stressed.

The ASSBIFI president maintained that the government should instead, come up with better ways to manage these assets, which includes, appointing a competent firm that can coordinate and generate profit through the assets.

“They should consider people who can manage it properly. From the report I gathered from our people that worked in PHCN, I was told they generated enough profits. So why should Nigeria still be paying subsidy on these assets?

“We need to think about some things and think properly. If you want to sell property to run a single year budget, what will happen to next year’s budget in terms of income? For me, it is a policy that is not well thought out.

“This should not be our priority for now. It is not ideal to sell assets to run a concurrent budget. We have spent about four or five years fixing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, we cannot also see infrastructure that is up to the expectation of Nigerians, so there shouldn’t be any reason for selling the existing assets.”

She stated that, 2021 should be a year that everybody has to put on their thinking caps, not only for labour workers but for all Nigerians.

“There is already inflation and we are still battling with an health issue which is COVID-19 and we are having issues in almost all the sectors. I encourage workers to be more active and belong to a labour union because we need to come together to defend one another.

For Nigerian workers, it is a year that we need to go the extra mile. We are complaining about salary that is not enough and majority of the workers are not gaining anything from the N30,000 minimum wage and the government that promised has not paid and there are so many things we are spending money on this year. It is not about being in the union, it’s about our survival as Nigerians.

Olasanoye stressed that Nigerians should not lose hope in the organised labour owing to several issues facing the country. She added that labour unions will continue to stand for the interest of Nigerians, but not at the detriment of the nations progress.

“I want to appeal to Nigerians not to lose focus on labour unions. There are laws that guide labour centers on strike actions. So it is not all the time Nigerians need people to fight their battles because there are laws that guide labour centers.

“They expect a lot from us, yes and we are ready to provide the leadership but unfortunately, we see some things that they didn’t see. Like the last strike that Nigerians felt labour centres betrayed