The immediate past chairman of Trade Union Congress(TUC) in Rivers State, Comrade Chika Onuegbu, said the Federal Government must urgently deal with the socio economic challenges affecting Nigerians , if the lingering economic recession is to be addressed.
He said also that the Petroleum Industry Bill, (PIB), the pending cash call challenges affecting the oil and gas sector operators and the militancy issue which has considerably diminished Nigeria production and exportation ability must also be resolved for the country to get out of the woods.
Speaking with BizwatchNigeria.ng following the activities marking his birthday celebrations, Onuegbu who is also the former National Industrial Relations Officer of the Petroluem and Natural Gas Senior Staff Assoccasion, (PENGASSAN), explained there is also the critical need for Nigerians to key fully into the Federal Government’s diversification agenda.
According to the labour leader, what the country was witnessing economically was not peculiar to Nigeria alone,as many nations like Venezuela, Iran,Saudi Arabia that depends on the production and exportation of crude oil was also grappling with similar challenges.
Attributing the present situation to the inability of the nation’s leadership to prepare for and save for the rainy days,Onuegbu called for greater prudence in the management of the nations resources, saying more should be done to avoid waste and leakeges in government.
On the challenges confronting the labour movement in Nigeria, Onuegbu urged the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, ( NLC) and that of the TUC to close ranks and work together for the good of the nation and the uplift ment of the nation’s workers.
” The interest of the nation and f the workers must be placed first and foremost above and beyond any other consideration. The only way government can pay attention to the plight of workers,is when the labour movement is able to present a united and indivisible front”,the labour leaders added.
Onuegbu further called for a review of the minimum wage to the nation’s workers,saying the present take home for millions of Nigeria workers is not realistic in the light of present circumstances.
