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Unionists task Nigerians on unity, good governance

By Gloria Ehiaghe (Lagos) and Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna)
30 May 2018   |   4:23 am
Labour unions, including the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), have appealed to politicians...

NUPENG’s National President, Williams Akporeha

Labour unions, including the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), have appealed to politicians to eschew politics of bitterness for the unity of the country.

In their goodwill messages to celebrate the nation’s 19th democratic journey, the unions urged government to remain resolute in entrenching enduring values and legacies.

NUPENG’s national president, Comrade Prince Williams Akporeha, stressed that government needed to prioritise mass employment to strengthen democratic structures, reduce poverty and contain other defiant behaviours within the vulnerable segments in the society. He added that there was also the need to check the rising cost of food items nationwide.

The National President of ULC, Joe Ajaero, regretted that the nation’s democratic experiment had not yielded positive results.

“We have people who are on a civilian clothe, but we have not internalised the tenets of democracy,” he stated.

The Chairman of Lagos State chapter of the NLC, Comrade Idowu Adelakun, said the nation was still at an infantry stage.

According to him, “we fought the army to leave the stage due to dictatorship and we want the government of our own, but what we are seeing now is not the government of our own.

“I appeal to those in power that the best thing is to do what they promised Nigerians, instead of going the other way round. Try and fulfill what you promised because people vote for you for what you said you are going to do for them rather than creating bad blood among people. I think this attitude will not help our democracy.”

To the President and Chairman of Council, Nigeria Institute of management (Chartered) (NIM), Prof. Olukunle Iyanda, the citizens must vote into office politicians who see politics as a means of serving the nation and improving lives.

He contended that the nation was yet to witness any form of democracy, since the common man had not attested to that in any way.

However, a famous unionist, Comrade Issa Aremu, has challenged Nigerians to deepen democracy.

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