The Organised Labour has called on the Federal Government to not forge ahead with its plan to increase petroleum or electricity prices to avoid a crisis in the economy of the country.
President of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic Product Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), Mr Babatunde Olatunji made the appeal at the 29th Annual Industrial Relations seminar of the union in Ibadan on Monday, NAN reports.
“Any plan to increase electricity or petrol will be a wrong step and the organized labour will do everything within its capacity to resist it,” he said
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Comparing Nigeria to South Africa, he said;
“Currently, power supply in Nigeria stands at 4,000 megawatts for about 200 million population and South Africa with 58,000 megawatts with 50 million population.
”Industrialisation cannot take place in the absence of power. Inadequate infrastructure like bad road network is also a challenge.
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”Government should ensure adequate power, security of lives and properties as well as regulate multiple taxation and charges to allow manufacturing companies survive, thus promote Gross Domestic Products in the country,” he said.
Olatunji further explained that the coronavirus pandemic and the socio-economic crisis took a toll on the citizens as there was a high rate of job losses which was as a result of factory closure.
In other to maximise profit, management of some organisations made it compulsory for staffs to work overtime without been paid for it, while much permanent employment is converted to casual.
He concluded by encouraging management of affected organisations to treat all workers with dignity and also respect the International Labour Organisation’s law on workers right to join a union irrespective of their status.
