Labour shares Emir Sanusi’s fear, says increasing debt profile, inflation worrisome

Organized labour in the country including the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) have expressed more worries at the gloomy economic state of the country.

This is coming days after the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II said the country was moving towards bankruptcy.

According to the outgoing President of the TUC, Mr Bobboi Kaigama, the country’s debt profile and the increasing rate of inflation in the country was something to worry about.

He expressed these concerns at the opening of the Triennial National Delegates Conference of the union in Abuja on Thursday.

He alleged that the Federal Government seemed unbothered about the situation.

He said, “Our economy is in dire strait, regrettably, those who should manage it are not showing promising signs on how to fix it. Nigeria’s debt profile is over N24.3tn, it was reported recently that the government wants to borrow more.

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“Borrowing in itself is not a bad thing, the issue is what you borrow for. Countries borrow for capital projects, and not to pay salaries. If we cannot bequeath wealth to our children, why burden them with debts?’’

He said, “Comrades, the current Consumer Price Index also known as the inflation rate for goods and services hovers between 11.28 and 11.44 per cent. This, of course, has had an adverse effect on the purchasing power of the citizens and also leads to bad debt for commercial banks. There is uncertainty in the system.

“We urge the CBN to take drastic action on that to avoid the pain of a double digit inflation rate. In addition, we urge the government to improve our operating environment to ensure the smooth running of the economy.”

Also speaking, the President, Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, emphasised the need to address the global imbalance in which more people lived below the poverty line, given the growing global wealth.

He said, “The rules cannot be changed through wishful thinking, our leaders must be instigated to promote the rights of Nigerian workers.’’

By Babatunde Alao…

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