Labour Tasks President Buhari On Nation’s Ailing Industries
NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) has said the level of unemployment and poverty in the country could lead to social unrest. It therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to set up the mechanism of reviving the comatose industries to mitigate those social challenges.
A chieftain of NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu, dropped the hint yesterday, in his paper at the third International Conference and Award of Fellowship of the Association of Textiles Technologists of Nigeria (ATTN) in Kaduna yesterday.
Aremu noted, “the honeymoon is over now for President Buhari with the appointment of ministers, it is time for him and members of his cabinet to face the industrialization of Nigeria which is the bane of our growth and development”.
Aremu, who was one of the fellowship awardees of the association, spoke on the theme, “Harnessing Opportunities in the Textile and Allied Industries for Sustainable Development”.
“We are in the era of change. President Muhammed Buhari administration is commendably committed to reviving the textile and allied industries in general. Organized labour supports him wholeheartedly in achieving this goal of industrial revival,” he stated.
He challenged the President, governors, and ministers waiting to be allocated portfolios and other stakeholders to undertake a tour of the nation’s comatose industries in order to appreciate the decay in Nigerian economy before the revival process.
Aremu added: “The importance of industry cannot be overemphasised. The key to real transformation and economic recovery lies in manufacturing. Oil and gas, and the new entrants; solid minerals are exhaustible resources. What Nigeria needs is to turn abundant raw materials into finished goods for the huge domestic market and export just as China, Singapore (countries without Oil and Gas) have done.”
He said the vision of the founding fathers of Nigeria for the nation was that of a producing economy that creates millions of decent jobs for the citizens not of a consumer of imported smuggled goods, stressing that “the advantages of industrialization include lessening of dependency on imports, employment creation and saving scarce foreign exchange”.
“It is also linked to the growth of education. Europe and America developed on the tripod of agriculture, construction and textile. Even after they have moved to high-tech industry, Europe and America still jealously hold on to their primary industries through protective measures of different dimensions because they are also central to employment creation and security.”
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
1 Comments
AND AILING OLD AGE PENSIONERS.
We will review and take appropriate action.