Labour demands Buhari's blueprint for job creation

The Nigeria Labour Congress has asked the Buhari administration to produce the  blueprint for the creation of the three million jobs annually contained in its manifesto.

President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba while speaking at the 2016 May Day celebration reminded President Buhari that Nigeria was bleeding and needed strong measures to revive the ailing economy.

“We have persistently pointed out, there is hardly any household in Nigeria where there aren’t at least two or more unemployed persons who have graduated from various tiers of our educational system, looking for job placement for upward of three to five years.

“The ruling APC government in its manifesto promised to create three million jobs annually. We have waited one year for the government to bring out its blueprints on how it intends to go about achieving this.

“Congress will seek audience with Mr. President to get more information on this important matter. On our part as workers, we will be prepared and willing to contribute to any effort to create a ‘Job Creation Fund,’ nationally to tackle this problem.

“Our worry as organized labour is that if no concrete convictions are secured in the many corruption trials going on, between now and the next 12-15months, those who have stolen these huge fortunes will start feeling that they can outlive the Buhari Presidency, and return to a regime of “business as usual” as far as corruption is concerned.

“Unless the unfinished reforms started with the partial implementation of the Justice Mohammed Uwais’ electoral reform committee are completed, we see dangers ahead.

“Among these reforms waiting to be implemented is the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission.

“For us in organized labour, unless our politicians know that there is real possibility that their electoral rascalities carry real penalties of jail terms or long term disqualification from contesting for public offices, the type of disgraceful mayhem witnessed during the recent election in Rivers and other states would continue unabated.

“Similarly, unless we fine-tune the procedure for the appointment of the chairman and key officers of the electoral management body as recommended in the Justice Uwais report, the current progress made in the independence and operations of INEC are not irreversible.”