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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The promises and assurances given by President Bola Tinubu in his broadcast on Monday seemed to be out of touch with reality and not the panacea that Nigerians had hoped for, according to Joseph Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Ajaeo said that the claims of interventions by the Federal Government through palliatives, the provision of CNG buses, as well as loans and conditional grants to poor Nigerians, were nothing more than empty promises that had no substance.
He said Nigerians were used to such promises which have never produced any verifiable and meaningful changes in the lives of citizens.
According to the NLC President, Tinubu’s opening statement, which expressed a commitment to a better and more productive economy, should have included a plan for how he intended to revive the nation’s public refineries, which have been lying inactive for so long and are the major pain point in the whole subsidy narrative.
“Unfortunately, the entire speech by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was completely silent on the issue of the repair of our national refineries,” he stated.
The NLC president also faulted Tinubu’s failure to unmask those behind the looting of Nigeria’s commonwealth under the guise of petrol subsidy.
He said: “It is unacceptable for the President and Commander-in-Chief to lament like ordinary Nigerians about a group that Mr President routinely referred to in his speech as the “elites of the elites” who have stolen so much from Nigeria that they have become so powerful as to constitute a threat to democratic governance. What Nigerians expected from Mr President is a firm commitment to bring these economic saboteurs to justice and recover what they have stolen.”
Ajaero further asserted that the President’s statement on working with Organised Labour to review the national minimum wage was out of sync with what has played out since he removed the petrol subsidy.
He lamented that “In all the meetings scheduled by the government, Organised Labour has been forced to negotiate with empty chairs on the Federal Government’s side as the Federal Government has not matched its public promises with a firm commitment to negotiate in good faith with labour. As a matter of fact, the sub-committee on wage award has not been inaugurated and has not met.”
The NLC President added that while President Tinubu lavishly commended the private sector for rapidly distributing salary awards to its employees, the Federal Government had neglected to do the same for public workers in its service.
He claimed that was a glaring instance of the government woefully failing to live up to the standards it had set for others to meet.
“It is open knowledge that the review of the national minimum wage is a matter of the law which is expected to happen in 2024. How would Nigerian workers cope with the current reality of hyperinflation and suffering unleashed by the hasty removal of the so-called petrol subsidy till 2024 when the national minimum wage would be reviewed? This is incredible,” he queried.
Ajaero said that the main players in the current administration, including Tinubu himself, were crystal aware in 2012 of the necessity of addressing the basic problems that gave rise to the petrol subsidy.
He questioned why those topics weren’t addressed in the President’s speech from yesterday.
The Labor leader expressed the Congress’ determination to align talks with the administration with the current hardships being experienced by Nigerians.
“Until we see a real commitment by the government to do the needful to improve a lot of Nigerians and ameliorate the sufferings workers and ordinary Nigerians are going through, we remain committed to continuing with our struggle,” he assured.
