In the wake of the controversy over the proposed sale of some National assets to finance the country out of recession organized labour has cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against what it calls “feverish prescriptions of few economic hit men” who contrary to the spirit and content of the 1999 constitution deliberately undermine national development through recommendations that foster national assets stripping rather than sovereign wealth generation.

Comrade Issa Aremu a NEC member of NLC and Secretary Alumuni Association of the National Institute said in a statement entitled NIGERIA NOT FOR SALE in Kaduna that Nigeria is not short of resources, but on the contrary Nigeria lacks “genuine resourceful leaders at all levels” committed to nation building. According to him, at 50 dollars per barrel of crude oil, Nigeria is still a rich country but “sadly made impoverished by miserable leaders whose business as usual governance life styles include scandalous budget padding, illegal double prohibitive pension compensation for increasing army of two term governors, sheer theft of public funds officially put at trillion of Naira and lack of authentic vision of building the wealth of the nation”.

Aremu however commended the “economic patriotism” of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) for rising in defence of retention of critical national assets such as Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company which according to NEITI over eight-year period paid as much as $12.9 billion to NNPC unremitted to the Federation Account. Aremu said Nigeria would further slide into underdevelopment if Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Company which paid the sum of $1.289 billion as dividends for 2013 is sold to the highest bidder for another easy money to for business as usual governance. He observed that NLNG must be strengthened to make its gas available at competitive affordable price to fuel domestic industries and not to throw it at the “economic jackals” waiting to further profit from National recession through asset striping. The labour chieftain says the leadership of the National Assembly which buys imported cars for members at times of recession, refuses to cut the pay and allowances of members and even collects double pension remunerations lacks moral authority to pronounce on the economy in crisis adding that “they are part of the problems not the solutions”.

Comrade Aremu observed that Nigeria ruling/ economic elite must enunciate big development plans think outside the box of easy monies to spend and jump out of the cage of self serving least resistance economics” to beneficiation of abundant raw materials for national development. He called for a bipartisan approach on the economy to include labour and industry.

Issa Aremu, mni
NLC NEC member and General Secretary Textile Workers Union! Kaduna.