Nigeria at risk of ‘devastating consequences’ if naira fails to stabilise against dollar —NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), on Sunday, alleged that the love for foreign goods by government official is the major reason for the continous decline of the Nigerian currency, naira against the dollar and other major foreign currencies.

While lamenting the devastating impact of the forex crisis on the economy, labour congress demanded urgent stabilisation of the naira.

The NLC stated this in a statement issued by its President, Joe Ajaero, warning that the economy was at risk of “a wave of devastating consequences” if the naira failed to stabilise against the American dollar.

Ajaero gave the warning ahead of the organised labour and the Federal Government’s meeting scheduled to hold today (Monday).

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In a statement titled, “Urgent action to stabilise the naira amidst alarming depreciation,” the NLC president said repercussions of the weakened currency would be felt by workers and the masses.

Ripples Nigeria reports that though the naira has been a bit stable at the investor & exporter window at around N770 to 780/$, the parallel market, traded at over N1,000/$.

To stem the continous slide, Ajaero,in the statement, said public officials must stop their penchant for foreign goods to check the depreciation of the naira.
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Also on Sunday, Ajaero addressed a press conference in Abuja where he disclosed that the union had been invited to the State House by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on the implementation of the resolutions on subsidy removal palliatives.

He said: “Hopefully, we may meet tomorrow (today) with the Federal Government to see whether the agreement with organised labour on the fuel subsidy removal palliatives was met or not.

“If that meeting is to be held, it will be without the Minister of Labour and Employment (Simon Lalong) because we will not be part of any meeting with the Federal Government that the Minister of Labour and Employment will attend.

“You will recall that the decision we had on the National Union of Road Transport Workers was that all parties including the police should leave the premises, pending the resolution of the dispute but that did not happen. Therefore, any meeting we will have with the Federal Government, the minister of labour and employment will not be part of it,” the labour leader vowed.

It will be recalled that the NLC had earlier accused Lalong of giving support to a faction of the NURTW and encouraging them to conduct their own delegates conference, both zonally and nationally, in a bid to confer legitimacy on the group.

Based on the allegation, Ajaero said the union believed that any meeting with the minister would be a waste of time “since he appears not to be in control of issues as far labour relations are concerned.’’

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