TUC Urges FG, States to Address Food Crisis
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has asked the federal government to collaborate with states to find urgent solutions to the current food crisis in the country.
Against the background of looming hunger protests caused by the harsh economic situation in the country, the union suggested that the federal and state governments should join hands and act swiftly to ensure that the ongoing food crisis is arrested.
Speaking on the current state of the nation, TUC President, Festus Osifo, said that Nigerians are facing excruciating hardship principally caused by the government’s policy of floatation of the Naira which has further aggravated the economic crisis.
According to him, these challenges are both affecting macroeconomics and microeconomics economics causing the country and her citizens a lot of pain.
For instance, he said that TUC identified that the fluctuating exchange rate has triggered a hike in the cost of diesel and that of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country.
Osifo said that the union has cautioned the federal government that the unabating insecurity which was driving away farmers from their farms will ultimately result in food scarcity and high food prices.
He said the TUC recently proposed that the government should authorise massive food import to augment local production as an interim measure to prevent hunger.
The TUC president said the union is again urging both the federal government and the subnationals to join hands and find immediate solutions to the current food crisis.
On the brewing feud between Dangote Refinery and some federal government officials, Osifo said that both parties should stop the verbal exchanges so as not to hurt the country’s interest.
According to Osifoh, such a crisis of confidence is capable of driving away foreign investors from Nigeria if not checked.
“We are not quite interested in what the issues are. What we are concerned about is in the public sphere and in the public space because it will tend to drive away investors. The issues should be brought to the President’s table so that he can get the matter resolved. fought with,” he said.
TUC hailed both chambers of the National Assembly for fast-tracking the passage of the N70,000 new minimum wage.
While explaining the process that led to the acceptance of the N70,000 minimum wage by organised labour, the TUC president said that they had to consider other indices raised by the government.
“When we got to the negotiation, government told us that they were not there to discuss the concept of living wage but minimum wage but we had thought that based on the kind of hardship Nigerians were facing, negotiating for a living wage was paramount,” he said.
Osifo said that based on the calculations by TUC, using the inflationary rates, the ideal amount the union would have been comfortable with was N75,000.
He however said that the union is happy that it got the government to agree to N70,000 which is close to its reserve bid for the new minimum wage.
Having passed the new minimum wage at the National Assembly, he said that TUC is urging the states and local governments to immediately begin the process of implementation of the wage increase, particularly its consequential adjustment so as to enable it to have the needed impact.
He also said that the union will be monitoring the implementation of the minimum wage to ensure that consequential adjustment is done properly.
For the private sector, he called on the federal government to consider the challenges facing employers and address their demands so that they can be able to meet the wage demands of their employees.
Osifoh said the expectations of labour is that the new Minimum Bage Bill will provide for a three-yearly review.
On the issue of the price of the PMS, he said that the consideration was based on the fact that if the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was able to stabilise the exchange rate, the price of fuel would have become more stable and lower.
He said that the reason for the continued hike in the price of PMS and AGO was due to the high exchange rate of Naira which the apex bank has not been able to stabilise.
