GOODWILL MESSAGE PRESENTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE NIGERIA
LABOUR CONGRESS, COMRADE ABDULWAHED OMAR
TO THE 6TH/5TH QUARDRIENNIAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE OF THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN NURSES AND MIDWIVES HOLDING AT THE GLORYLAND
CULTURAL CENTRE, YENAGOA, BAYELSA STATE ON TUESDAY 20TH NOVEMBR 2012
Protocols,
On behalf of the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Labour
Congress and indeed all Nigerian workers, it is my pleasure to be with you this
morning given the importance of your union to the Nigerian labour movement and
the NLC in particular.
Considering the important functions of members of your union
in the health sector, the theme of this conference – National Security and Health Care
Transformation: Issues, challenges and the Way forward – it is quite apt, timely and of
utmost national interest to the labour movement and to all those who believe
our country must make progress, which cannot be possible in periods of
insecurity as we currently experience in some parts of the country.
Indeed, the NLC, you will recall held a National Peace Summit
and Rally in September this year in Abuja where we brought major stakeholders who
we believed could play critical roles in our quests for peace, national
cohesion and development. President Goodluck Jonathan, the Sultan of Sokoto,
General Yakubu Gowon, Christian leaders, students, unemployed youths, women and
the academia were fully present at the event.
Comrades, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen the NLC
is a national organization and our belief in the unity of this country is deep
and we will always be interested in making imputes to every efforts aimed at
advancing the cause of a united, virile and strong Nigeria.
The greatest threat to national security in Nigeria today is
not rooted in any religion or ethnic misconceptions or disputes. The elite drum
up religious and ethnic disputes as the major cause of insecurity, because they
want to avoid taking responsibility as they are the major cause of our national
insecurity having misruled the country, and diverted our commonwealth to their
private use which has led to the collapse of public infrastructures and
industry. Thus, what we now have is a growing army of unemployed men and women,
some of whom have taken the option of taking up arms against other citizens to
survive.
While other countries are busy developing and implementing
policies that are focused on job creation, our leaders have adopted policies
that have no national interest but the interest of institutions historically known
to have destroyed people through poverty. These institutions, particularly the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have held our country hostage
through the imposition of neo-liberal economic policies that have almost ruined
our economy.
Today, no industry is running at full capacity because of
high cost of production, which is a direct result of the mindless increases in
the price of petroleum products since business in Nigeria is generator driven. Not
a few industries that could not cope with the harsh business environment have
relocated to other countries.
Consequently, Comrades we now have millions of Nigerians who
should be in productive employment struggling between life and death without
jobs. Indeed, youth unemployment has
grown to an alarming rate of 60% and no country can expect peace and stability
with restless youth roaming the streets.
These cannot be the aspirations of the Nigerian people who desire a
healthy economy good governance and a
stable political environment.
Since October 1978 when the General Olusegun Obasanjo military
government made the first increase in the price of petroleum products to
January 2012 when the Jonathan administration made the last increase, the
Nigerian people are yet to see the benefits of such increases. Rather than
increase our production and build more refineries, we now import petroleum
products while our refineries have remained non functional.
The petroleum sector is too important to our national economy
to be toyed with. The level of corruption in the industry is so pervasive and has
remained unchecked. This is mainly the cause of the problems confronting that
sector, and rather than arrest, prosecute and jail those identified by various
committees and panels set up by government to have massively enriched
themselves with funds meant to service this sector, the government intend to
completely hand over the sector to these same people through what they call
deregulation. We must not accept this if we are interested in having a country
where insecurity will not be a challenge.
Comrades, following the January strike against the last
petrol price increase, government promised to use the subsidy they removed to
reinvigorate our infrastructures and get our refineries functioning as well as
create jobs. As we speak, none of those promises have been fulfilled. Even the
buses given to some organizations for public transportation are breaking down
one after the other just ten months after they were given out.
One of the achievements of the January strike is the exposure
of those who have swindled our people through the diversion of over
N1.7trillion meant to subsidize the supply of petroleum products. And months
after the reports of the various committees were submitted, none of those
indicted have gone through effective prosecution. None have refunded what they
stole. Rather, what we see is all sorts of diversionary accusations and counter
accusations without prosecution.
If those identified are not prosecuted and what they stole
are not refunded, then the objectives of January strike has not been achieved.
Comrades, let me reiterate our opposition to any further
price increase and the determination of the Labour Movement to mobilize all patriotic Nigerians against it .
What we expect a government who possibly know that past increases has not
evidently impacted positively in the lives of our people but deepened their
poverty and deprivations and led to the near total collapse of industrial
production in the country is to consider reducing the cost of these products.
We encourage all Nigerians to commence and sustain
mobilizations against the impending price increase.
We urge you to use the opportunity of this conference to
discuss this and come out with a strong commitment to our collective resolve to
ensure a new price increase is massively rejected. Although President Jonathan has recanted
himself when he assured Nigerians in his media chat that subsidy will not be
removed in 2013, but we must continue to prepare ourselves to take appropriate
actions any day the government decides to remove subsidy or increase fuel
prices.
Once again, on behalf of Nigerian workers, I wish you a very
successful conference.
Thank you for your attention.
The President was represented by the National Treasurer of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba who is also the President of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria
