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Nigerian government at all levels must adopt consensual gradualist approach to policy reforms, instead of the current shock therapy approach that tends to create more problems than provide solutions for good governance, says Issa Aremu.
Speaking on current national issues at his 59th birthday, Aremu, the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers (NUTGTWN), noted that Nigeria should adopt gradualist approach to development instead of the current shock therapy immediate effect approach that alienates the Nigerian people.
“The recent controversies that trailed the attempt by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to increase end-user tariffs for electricity, application of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in the Universities, proposed reintroduction of toll gates by Ministry of works and the insistence of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) that candidates for the forth-coming 2020 must acquire National Identification Number (NIN) or forfeit their chance of sitting for the examination, are examples of shock therapy approaches to reforms,” he said.
He hailed the decision of the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Oloyede, to suspend the use of the NIN for the 2020 UTME.
He advised other agencies to demonstrate similar sensitivity to the plight of stakeholders in policy formulation and policy implementation. He said, “The lesson from JAMB/NIN saga is that Nigeria must sequence reforms with time lines for stakeholders to appreciate rationale for policies and even make their inputs known. Public Policies should be for Stakeholders by Stakeholders with genuine partnership as envisaged by Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.”
To this extent, Aremu who is also the Regional President of IndustriAll Global said the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola must rethink the return of toll plazas on federal roads, until there is an appropriate explanations why the tolls were first dismantled by the previous governments and when the roads would be motorable for users through reconstruction and repairs.
In the same vein, the General Secretary of NUTGTWN said NERC must address the concerns of electricity users in terms of poor energy service delivery instead of addictive increases in tariffs without complementary sustainable power supply.
According to him the obsession of NERC with macroeconomic parameters and costs that would make case for operators must be tempered with the interests of poor customers and national development.
“The truth is lack of sustainable electricity is under-developing Nigeria. NERC must address the concerns of consumers not just the interests of electricity distribution companies alone,” he said.
