Insecurity threat to human capital development – Aremu

By Ukpono Ukpong, Abuja

General Secretary, Textile Workers Union, Comrade Issa Aremu, has said that the worsening insecurity in the country is fast depleting the country’s limited human capital through what he called avoidable killings of innocent working people, workers, journalists, farmers and herders.

Aremu, stated this yesterday while on a condolence visit to the family of Precious Owolabi a youth corps member with Channels Television who died following a gunshot wound he sustained at the scene of the clash between the police and protesting members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) in Abuja.

The labour leader observed that insecurity related problems have wider negative impact for human capital development if unchecked. He said while significant progress has been made to train human resources in a number of educational institutions, Nigeria is depleting its skilled hands through violent conflicts.

He regretted that an enthusiastic energetic intern journalist like Precious Owolabi, “could be casually wasted in an avoidable conflict between the police and members of Shi’ite movement,” adding that it takes almost 15 years and enormous resources to train a university graduate.

Comrade Aremu recalled that the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has lost as many as 1, 000 teachers to incessant killings and the abduction of school officials by armed bandits in Zamfara state and other parts of the North East.

“For a country in which millions of children are out of schools, serial murder of trained ones like teachers and journalists like Precious Owolabi further depletes the country’s critical human capital,” he noted.

He lamented that insecurity at the work place has been the daily woe of the majority of Nigerian workers and called on security forces and employers to protect workers in the areas of conflicts.

According to him, notwithstanding the national hysteria about rampant kidnappings, robberies, rural banditry and terror attacks, the mass insecurity victims are the poor defenceless working people.

“In most cases, mass victims are poor working people in the farms, traders in towns and teachers in schools, and now working journalists like Precious. Security must be inclusive for all,” he added.

The labour leader further observed that there should be recognition for what he called “the class character” of violent conflicts, adding that most victims are the poor who he observed are treated with indifference compared to the alarm the insecurity of the rich and politically protected generate in the media.