One Year In Office: Textile Union Commends Buhari’s Efforts To Fix Nigeria

By Shettima Abdullahi, Kaduna
GENERAL SECRETARY and CHAIRMAN, IndutriALL Global Union Sub Saharan Africa, Issa Aremu, has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari over his development strides in the last one year in office.
In a statement made available to The Dream Daily Aremu reviewed the President performance and gave him a pass mark in a number of areas.
The statement read thus:
“IndutriALL
As an affiliate of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Industrial Global Union, we hereby salute all Nigerians on the occasion of 2016 Democracy Day which marks the 1 year anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration. Some of the measures announced by President Muhammadu Buhari in his anniversary speech are commendable and welcome and should be supported by all. One year, president Buhari administration was inaugurated, Nigeria now has a government in place. A year government has been formed. It’s now time for good governance.

“DIVERSIFICATION OF THE ECONOMY
We agree with President Muhammadu Buhari that “a strong currency is predicated on a strong economy. And a strong economy pre-supposes an industrial productive base..”. Industrialization therefore remains the key to economic recovery for Nigeria. The advantages of industrialization include lessening of dependency on imports, thus saving scarce foreign exchange. It also serves as a source of employment for greater number of the population and invariably reduces income poverty. The federal government must therefore accord urgent attention to the revival of labour intensive industries such as textile and garment. The industry can employ 3 million direct jobs. 26 out of the 36 states grow cotton of both long and short stable lengths. Sadly, Nigeria has become a dumping ground for mostly smuggled fabrics and even second-hand banned unhealthy cloths. We must overcome infrastructural inadequacy, electricity supply, smuggling, low patronage, counterfeiting and faking, raw materials among others. All these problems call for strong government interventions. President Buhari must convene stakeholders meeting on textile with a view of implementing the Nigeria industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the National Cotton, Textile and Garment policy.

“REFIXING LOCAL REFINERIES
We are on the same page with President Buhari that the solution to the problems in the down stream sector is not importation of petrol but building domestic local refinery. We share in the pain of President Buhari “….that a major producer of crude oil with four refineries that once exported refined products is today having to import all of its domestic needs”. Labour supports President Buhari on the need to save foreign exchange by fast tracking repair of the refineries and producing most of our fuel requirements at home. Nigeria must take advantage of the multiple benefits of crude oil by fixing existing local refineries, exploring local refining capacity and building petrochemical and gas plants and in the process create sustainable mass decent jobs.

“FIVE HUNDRED BILLION NAIRA CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER
We commend President Muhammadu Buhari for the successful launching of N500 billion as direct social transfers or conditional cash transfer program for the poorest and most vulnerable. The N500 billion conditional cash transfer is appropriated in the 2016 budget for social intervention programmes in five key areas that include providing job creation opportunities for five hundred thousand teachers and one hundred thousand artisans across the nation. Labour salutes the socially sensitive policy that would feed 5.5 million children with nutritious meals through school feeding programme to improve learning outcomes, as well as enrolment and completion rates. The cash transfers to the vulnerable not only assist the vulnerable but help in national economic growth. CBN once spent as much as over N3trillion to bail out just 8 corporate banks under the Asset Management Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) established on the 19th July 2010, by President Yar Adua. If Nigeria could appropriate such huge resources, (almost half of this year’s budget!) to efficiently resolve the problem of the non-performing loan assets of the banks, we commend President Buhari for coming to the plight of as many as absolutely 70 million poor Nigerians who are living on less than a dollar per day by making them to access national resources as a matter of right. The conditional legitimate transfers should serve as the basis for a National comprehensive Social security for Nigeria. Sustainable implementation of this policy should be through critical labour market institutions like the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).

“RENEWED ATTACKS ON OIL ASSETS PUSHES NIGERIA INTO UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Labour condemns the recent spate of attacks on oil and power installations by some militants in the Niger Delta and called on the militants to return to the path of dialogue to resolve all conflicts. All Nigerians and indeed all Africans are worse of with serial economic sabotage. Indeed assaults on oil and gas assets push Nigeria into deeper underdevelopment. President Buhari must accelerate the implementation of the United Nations environment programme report on Niger Delta as promised in his anniversary speech.”