ORGANISED Labour said in Geneva, Switzerland that the worsening condition of Nigerian workers was getting out of hand.
NLC represented by Mr. Ayuba Wabba, President Nigeria Labour Congress, Labour blamed the high and increasing cost of living, rising number of dependents, deepening unemployment situation, low social protection coverage, delayed payment of salaries among others, for the development.
According to him: “We wish to state that the situation of the working poor in Nigeria continues to be dire and exacerbating.
This is because of the high and increasing cost of living, rising number of dependents given the deepening unemployment situation, low social protection coverage, delayed payment of salaries amongst others. It is for these reasons that we have demanded and achieved the composition of the tripartite national minimum wage committee to deliver an upward review.
“We also wish to state that migration as an unstoppable human phenomenon will require broad-based collaboration, especially as we seek to ensure shared migrations benefits. For Nigeria and Africa, our demographic trends suggests that we will require assistance on youth’s skills development and employment creations opportunities.”
The NLC President said that labour believe in the values and efficacy of dialogue, saying “It is in this regard that we commend the continuous dialogue with our people in the Niger Delta by the government. This is yielding good results as sabotaging of petroleum facilities have substantially reduced and economic activities in the region picking up. Organised labour will continue to encourage and support the dialogue process as well as monitor the progress.
Wabba reiterated that Nigerian workers were worried about the huge illicit Financial Flows, IFF, from Africa adding “the African Union has established that a very conservative figure of $60 billion leaves Africa annually through IFFs activities. Nigeria is making efforts to implement Recommendation 202 (social protection floors) as one of the tools to tackle poverty and inequality amongst her people and communities. But resource mobilisation challenges for financing development persist. It is known that our chances at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are greater if IFFs activities are halted and the leaking revenues channeled to government coffers to support public services delivery.”
