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By Chukwudi Nweje, Lagos
The Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has urged the leadership of labour unions to shelve all plans for strike action and give President Bola Tinubu a chance to implement his economic recovery plans to bail Nigeria out from the current economic stranglehold by those he called 1 per cent class of deep pockets.
Okechukwu, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) noted that Tinubu is actually committing class suicide with the course of action he has taken to save Nigeria.
He said, “President Tinubu could be ranked among the rich 1 per cent deep pockets, going by the paradox of history, he is well-heeled to wage this Herculean War, which amounts to class suicide for the collective interest of our dear fatherland. He stands in good stead to bail us out of the stranglehold of these unelected individuals wielding enormous influence and posing a serious threat to the integrity of our democracy.
“History has over the years recorded nations where change emanated from unexpected quarters, therefore we should give Mr President the much-needed support to implement Section 16(2)(c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which says that, ‘the economic system shall not be operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of the group.
“Methinks all Tinubu needs to unbundle our economy from the hands of rent-takers, which our Constitution frowns at, is one, our support and second, genuine advice and thirdly, to mark his bumper to bumper with constructive criticisms on how best to preside over our commonwealth.”
He said Nigeria has wasted trillions of funds that would have been pumped into infrastructure development on subsidy, even as he noted that there is no viable alternative to the short-term palliatives on the table.
He further said, “To me, the strike may not achieve the desired result of addressing gross inequality in the land, since there is no better alternative to the short-term palliatives on the table, urgently fixing the country’s four refineries and as well as implementation of former President Muhammadu Buhari regime’s Green Imperative Project, aimed at mechanisation of agriculture nationwide. Since we have regrettably succumbed to the nebulous Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) economic policy the only viable option left is to collectively and pragmatically join Mr President to recover lost grounds and for him to commit class suicide.
“The subsidy cost us trillions of Naira yearly. Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.
“These individuals had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance. To be blunt, Nigeria could never become the society it was intended to be as long as such small, powerful yet unelected groups hold enormous influence over our political economy and the institutions that govern it.”
He commended President Bola Tinubu on his Monday night national broadcast but regretted that there was no mention of how to fix the country’s refineries.
“To me, it is an excellent address in plain and clear language devoid of economic jargon; however the missing gaps are, one, there’s no mention of how to urgently fix our four refineries, as one does not trust that Dangote Refinery is enough. Two, there was no mention of the Green Imperative Project (GIP) aimed at the Agricultural Mechanisation Program by former President Buhari
“Without being immodest, with my experience in mass action, the danger of labour strike is that it may not achieve the desired objective and God forbid, may unfortunately drive us from fire to total economic frying pan,” he said.
