President Bola Tinubu has been urged by the Organised Labour to reverse the floating of the national currency and the high cost of energy, saying doing this and others like industrialization will lessen the current hardship being experienced by Nigerians.
The call came at the weekend in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital when the National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE) met. It noted that Nigerians and businesses are passing through a very difficult time and that the federal government should address the issues urgently before things get out of hand.
Addressing the delegates and members of the union at the 6th Quadrennial and 13th National Delegates Conference (NDC) of NUSDE, Aminu Megbontowon, President of NUSDE, said “Nigerian workers and businesses in the country are facing difficult times because of some of the policies implemented by this government. The cost of energy is provocatively high and this has affected production, service and workers welfare negatively. For instance, there is no justification for petroleum products to be over N1,000 considering Nigeria is an oil and gas producing country while the purchasing power of Nigerians remains very low. Electricity tariff is also very high. The electricity tariff that increased from N68 to N227 has also driven the cost of production, services and livelihood far beyond the reach of many Nigerians.
“Since the costs of production, services and living are rising much higher than the purchasing power of the vast majority, many Nigerians have been forced into poverty and even destitution. Many factories cannot sell their products and this has led to the collapse of many companies with its attendant jobs losses.
“Invariably, we are losing members daily due to redundancies and job closures. The Nigerian economy needs cheaper energy, single-digit interest rates and basic infrastructure to support the growth of production and service industries and compete globally.
“Hence, NUSDE is calling on President Tinubu to reduce energy cost by ending all anti-people policies of deregulation and hikes in petroleum products and electricity tariffs. We are also calling on the President to end the devaluation and floating of the Naira to enable imported goods and raw materials to be affordable. We do not see any benefit derivable from Naira devaluation when the country is largely an import-dependent economy.
“To arrest the rising cost of living, inflation, service costs and production costs, President Tinubu should immediately reduce energy costs (electricity and petroleum products) drastically. He should reverse the floating and devaluation of the Naira so that the goods and services including raw materials will become affordable.
“The President should equally reduce lending rates to single-digit figures to bring about cheap credit and more investment. They must embark on massive investments in infrastructure such as electricity, roads, public refineries, schools, hospitals, agriculture and so on. It should also pursue an ambitious industrialization plan to enable the growth and development of the Nigerian economy,” he stated.
