30th April, 2017
Prof. Omotoye Olorode, of the Department of Plant Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University has faulted the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Olorode, who spoke at the 2017 Pre-May Day Lecture on Saturday in Abuja, described the plan as subversive to chapter II of the 1999 Nigerian constitution.
The chapter stipulates “Derivative Principles of State Policy, meaning that the state shall provide for the welfare of the citizens by providing education, employment, and health among others.
The theme of the lecture was; “Labour Relations in Economic Recession: An Appraisal” jointly organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
He said that ERGP which was recently inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari was an extension of the assault formally imposed on the nation under military dictatorship in the mid-1980s.
“It is the same policies that have been imposed on the country by neoliberal forces that were replicated in the document which was inaugurated with fanfare by the President.
“The document cannot drive the nation’s economic recovery plan.
“I want to say that from President Shehu Shagari’s austerity measures of the early 1980s to SAP, to vision 2010, 2020 and 20-2020 to today’s 2017 ERGP, the commitment of the ruling class has been to neoliberalism-private sector led economy characterised below and enforced overtime by the same personnel,’’ ‘he said.
Olorode said the ERGP document was articulated with the understanding that the role of government in the 21st century must evolve from that.
“Nothing in the 2016 Strategic Implementation Plan to which the ERGP referred is new.
“Consequently, we must reiterate a segment of NLC policy document to show that the class interests of the succession of Nigeria’s ruling class regimes is antagonistic to that of the working people.
“Given the continued neglect of education through underfunding and privatisation, the claim of ERGP that the plan recognises the need to leverage Science, Technology and Innovation and build a knowledge based economy is not just only sheer sloganeering, it is a cruel joke.
“It is this neoliberal programmes that the Nigeria ruling class is still peddling with the ERGP and the entire labour movement at the global levels.
“There is the need to resist the outlaw capitalist recession in Nigeria and throughout the world.’’
On corruption, he insisted that the fight against corruption would not make any meaningful impact.
He said that as long as the Nigerian ruling class remain committed to private accumulation under new-liberal ideology which typically locates countries like Nigeria at the periphery of global capitalism, nothing much would be achieved.
In his remarks, Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President said that various government policies had continued to impoverish the Nigerian people.
Wabba said that government policies had consistently favoured employers against the workers and the Nigerian people.
According to him, today is a day of reflection and a day that we must recognise that no employer of labour will be so generous to award us what we are demanding for.
“We have to get it through struggle and this is what we need to reflect on.
“No politician seeks office to actually better the lot of the people because they see politics as an investment.
“We must as watchdog of the society continue to represent the interest of our members and the larger people. No policy will be made that will serve our interest,’’ he said.
He said that government policies must be made to address the developmental challenges and address issues of inequality that had continued to be on the increase.
According to him, 2017 May Day calls for dedication for members and leaders to the collective struggle and agitation for what is right in the society.
Wabba frowned at the statement made by the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar opposing the idea of having uniform salary for workers across the country.
“If political office holders can earn the same salaries irrespective of the resources available in their states, there was no reason why workers should not earn the same salaries across the country.
“In any case, we are not even canvassing for the same salary structure.
“ We are talking of minimum wage and even in the most capitalist societies, you have minimum wage which is to protect the vulnerable and it cuts across both public and private sector.
“We do not want to leave it to our respective employers to fix what they want. We are saying that we must continue to maintain that minimum whereby no employer should pay below that.’’
He called on workers not be deterred because “a people determined cannot be defeated.’’
The TUC President, Mr Bobboi Kaigama said countries all over the world had always rejigged their economy to make workers the priority of the state when the country was going through hard times.
Kaigama lamented that the reverse had always been the case in Nigeria.
“As creators of wealth, we are seen as slaves to our slave masters.
“During this year’s May Day, we intend to show the Nigerian government at all levels our displeasure.
“ In the midst of recession, devaluation of the naira and the high cost of everything, the wage of the Nigerian worker did not change, it remained constant.
“We will not stop calling on the governors that their states cannot pay workers’ salaries to resign.
“Because we strongly believe that there is no state in this country that cannot generate revenue internally to pay salaries except the governor is not serious,’’ he said.
He called on governors who feel they would not be able to pay workers’ salaries through internally generated revenue to honourably resign.