TUC seeks policies to reduce inflation, encourage investment at post COVID-19 

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Lagos State Council, has canvassed for a fiscal and monetary policies direction during and post COVID-19 that would reduce inflation, shore up exchange rate and encourage investment. 

Noting that the growth of any economy is determined by the fiscal and monetary policies put in place by the government, the Council also urged that while tax reform should be initiated, interest rate should stand at a single digit. 

The Lagos State Council Chairman of TUC, Gbenga Ekundayo, during its message at the May Day celebration recently, urged the Federal Government to diversify the economy, encourage local production of goods and services in order to depend less on crude oil as a major foreign exchange earner.  

The labour union also urged the State Government to look inwards on areas of economic strength that would galvanise citizens for higher productivity.  With the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ekundayo advocated for the need to save more, the need for data and the use of technology. 

According to him, they must be taken seriously when the whole crisis is over. He said the need to always have an emergency fund to avoid being caught unaware if emergency comes calling, noted that such funds could be easily deployed to help cushion the effects such emergency may have on business, jobs and the economy. 

“With data, it would have been easier for government to know the number of those who are vulnerable and those who have been badly affected by the lockdown policy.

The way and manner the palliatives were distributed brought to the fore the importance of data during emergencies, which would have helped to predict certain variables. 

“The adoption of technologies for webinars, conferences and meetings went on without compromising safety. 
 
“We think development like this should be sustained as much as possible as they have proven to be efficient and effective besides reduced cost of operation. 
 
“We believe the reliability of these platforms would improve with general network improvement. The future of human race will surely not remain the same post COVID-19,” Ekundayo said.