General Secretary of Textile union and NEC member of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Issa Aremu has said that there is no evidence to show that Nigeria has overcome the economic recession.
Aremu said the country can only recover from economic recession with enhanced purchasing power “which is only possible through prompt and adequate payments of over 10 million employed workforce”.
The labour leader who likened Nigeria economy to “a big blind economy which gets excited with a dimmed ray of eye sight” , said it was high time Nigeria got ambitious in its quantitative and qualitative growth and development numbers.
According to him, the Federal government Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2016-2020) launched last year envisaged 4.6 per cent restoration real GDP growth in 2017.
But he added that the “recent token positive growth of 0.55 per cent was a far cry from the planned target” .
Comrade Aremu who is also a labour representative on the National Wages and Salaries Commission said in a statement at the weekend that the key to sustainable development is improved labour productivity in both public and private sectors.
However, he said productivity is only possible with motivated paid workers at work and after work through quality pensions.
He called on the federal government to urgently address the crisis of compensation in all sectors, particularly education sector.
“Nigeria economic recovery is elusive with constant avoidable work stoppages and loss of human hours in an economy trying to exit recession.
“Federal government must ease the cost of doing business as much as it must ease the cost of living of the working people through prompt payments of wages and pensions.”Sunnews.
