Unemployment, poverty a time bomb – NLC

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
NIGERIA Labour Congress NLC, has said the increasing number of unemployed Nigerians and the level of poverty in the country, if not immediately addressed, is a time bomb waiting to explode.

President of NLC, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, in Lagos, said government at all levels and other stakeholders must urgently address these challenges to spare Nigeria from mass revolts sweeping across North Africa and other Arab countries.

According to him: “A number of African countries have exploded in mass protests in the last few weeks. While the government in Tunisia fell, that of Algeria has managed to hold out while  the Hosni Mubarak regime in  Egypt is tottering.

These protests have been largely  fuelled by rising prices, mass unemployment and poverty. We need to urgently address these challenges to spare our country these type of mass revolts.

The 2011 budget  contains plans to initiate a National Job Creation Scheme with emphasis on Labour-intensive public works. While this is a commendable step, it does not fundamentally address the problem which includes the policy focus of government.

This is dictated by  a complete reliance  on  imaginary market forces which actually creates jobs in foreign countries rather than in Nigeria.  Also, Congress  has warned that  the new scheme should not be reduced to another bureaucracy where money is thrown at a problem with little positive results.

“Apart from the need to urgently and comprehensively address the  job issue, Congress position is that the business of government must include  the provision of mass housing, water, and education for all Nigerian children to the Senior Secondary School grade.

Also, electricity should be available, reliable and affordable. Governments  who support these basic programmes, will be supported by the Labour Movement.  The Labour Movement and the Nigerian people have  the duty to oppose and campaign against governments who do not accept this minimum programme.

The cost of running government should be cut as regards  the jumbo pay of legislators and wastage in  government.  The high cost of government  like the Central Bank  governor has revealed, is not the stipends paid to keep workers alive or the number of employees in the public service, but the highly disproportionate amount that goes into servicing the voracious appetite of the legislature, political office holders and other government appointees, and of course, the endemic corruption in the system.”