Steel Sector Record Over 4,000 Job Losses in Two Years

Over 4,000 workers in the steel sector from 2014 till date have lost their jobs, and many companies have closed down due to financial glitches in the sector.

At the Steel and Engineering Workers’ Union of Nigeria, SEWUN, 2016 Annual Industrial Relations Workshop in Benin, Edo State, Its president, Comrade Elijah Adigun, said there was no company in the sector that has not engaged in one form of downsizing of workers or the other. He said the only reason for the redundancy was the scarcity of Foreign Exchange (forex) to import raw materials.

Adigun said:“You will recall that in my address last year, I reported happenings within our sector in terms of failure of privatisation programme by the Federal Government that sold government’s shares in these industries to non-core investors, thereby rendering the very essence of privatisation totally useless. As we speak, none of these sold government agencies has made any progress.” Adigun said.

Adigun said the situation had forced many companies to either downsize or shut down. “The unemployment situation is seriously bad, yet the government is appealing that they share our pains as if that will bring food to the table. What we need now is massive job creation and not empty slogan that appeals to nobody,” Adigun said.

He pointed out that no meaningful success wouls be recorded in a country where the national minimum wage was N18,000, adding that no worker can survive with such meagre salary.