- NLC faults Tinubu’s list of palliatives
- FG commits to fix refinery by Dec
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a national broadcast to the nation 7p.m, Monday unveiled series of measures, designed to ameliorate hardships for Nigerians. Mixed reactions have trailed the president’s special address with some stakeholders applauding and more citizens berating his policy statements on revamping the nation’s economy. “To what extent can these palliatives cushion the effects of the economic hardship, considering the fact that over 125m Nigerians are technically poor”, many ask over and over again. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) kicked against the palliatives, saying government is totally out of touch with economic realities and hardships being faced by poor citizens. The Catholic Herald Weekly newspaper focuses on the President Tinubu’s palliative measures as it also features NLC’s fault list.
…Mr. President’s eight palliatives
75 manufacturing enterprises to access N75 Billion credit “To strengthen the manufacturing sector, increase its capacity to expand and create good-paying jobs, we are going to spend N75 billion between July 2023 and March 2024. Our objective is to fund 75 enterprises with great potential to kickstart a sustainable economic growth, accelerate structural transformation and improve productivity. Each of the 75 manufacturing enterprises will be able to access N1 Billion credit at 9% interest per annum, maximum of 60-month repayment for long-term loans and 12 months for working capital,” President Tinubu pledged.
N125 Billion for MSMEs
Recognising the essence of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the informal sector as drivers of growth, the president promised to energise the sector with N125 billion. Of this amount, N50 billion will be allocated to provide grants to one million nano businesses between now and March, 2024. He gave the breakdown, “Our target is to give N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 local governments across the country.” 9% interest for SMEs, Startups; 36-month repayment period Speaking further, President Tinubu undertook, “We will fund 100,000 MSMEs and startups with N75 billion. Under this scheme, each enterprise promoter will be able to get between N500,000 to N1million at 9% interest per annum and a repayment period of 36 months.”
Food price intervention
To further ensure that prices of food items remain affordable, the President said his administration has had a multi-stakeholder engagement with various farmers’ associations and operators within the agricultural value chain to ensure staple foods are available and affordable in the short and immediate terms. To this end, the government will release of 200,000 metric tons of grains from strategic reserves to households across the 36 states and FCT to moderate prices. More so, 225,000 metric tons of fertilizer, seedlings and other input will be provided to farmers committed to the nation’s food security agenda.
N200 billion for farming
President Tinubu said his administration will support cultivation of 500,000 hectares of farmland with N200 billion out of the N500 billion approved by the National Assembly. This scheme will centre on cultivating rice, maize, wheat and cassava, targeting small-holder farmers and leveraging large-scale private sector players in the agric business with strong performance record. He vowed to ensure an all-yearround farming practice remains.
Infrastructure support fund for the States
To bring relief to hardship being experienced by Nigerians, a new infrastructure fund will be made available to states. The fund will be utilised to revamp the decaying health care and educational infrastructure. President Tinubu added, “The fund will also bring improvements to rural access roads to ease evacuation of farm produce to markets. With the fund, our states will become more competitive and on a stronger financial footing to deliver economic prosperity to Nigerians.”
N100 billion for mass transit
The government will invest N100 billion between now and March 2024 to acquire 3000 units of 20-seater Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel buses. These buses will be distributed to major transportation companies in the states, using the intensity of travel per capital. Participating transport companies will be able to access credit under this facility at interest rate of 9% per annum with 60-month repayment period.
New national minimum wage
In collaboration with the labour unions, the government is working to introduce a new national minimum wage for workers. The general salary review will be implemented once agreed upon and budget provisions are made.
Final notes
On a final note, President Tinubu in his speech urged Nigerians to look beyond the current hardship and aim at the larger picture as he assured them of the effectiveness of his proposed measures to improve the country’s economy and citizens’ wellbeing. Hear him, “All of our good and helpful plans are in the works. More importantly, I know that they will work. “Sadly, there was an unavoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully online.
However, we are swiftly closing the time gap. I plead with you to please have faith in our ability to deliver and in our concern for your well-being. “We will get out of this turbulence. And, due to the measures we have taken, Nigeria will be better equipped and able to take advantage of the future that awaits her. “In a little over two months, we have saved over a trillion Naira that would have been squandered on the unproductive fuel subsidy which only benefitted smugglers and fraudsters. That money will now be used more directly and more beneficially for you and your families.”
…NLC faults lists, FG to fix refinery
Barely few hours after the president, Bola Ahmed Tinbu itemised palliative measures to cushion the agonising effects of petrol subsidy removal on Nigerians, in a special broadcast, Monday night, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) issued a statement criticising the speech in its entirety. The statement entitled, “President Bola Tinubu’s speech: Not a silver bullet that Nigerian’s expected” was dated, Tuesday, August 1, 2023 and signed by Comrade Joe Ajaero, NLC President.
In the statement, Comrade Ajaero described the speech as “out of touch with reality and anomalous with the hardship and suffering that most Nigerians are going through now.” “Our review of today’s broadcast by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu leaves us with the impression that the promises and assurances made by President Tinubu are not the silver bullet that Nigerians expected,” he noted.
The NLC took its first swipe at the President’s silence on resuscitating the public refineries to reduce the ripple effects of the hike in petrol prices on the masses. The statement read in parts, “First the opening statement by the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu conveyed a commitment to a better and productive economy. We expected that the president would address how his government plans to resuscitate public refineries, which have been lying comatose for so many years and are considered the major pain point in the whole subsidy narrative.
“Unfortunately, the entire speech by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was completely silent on the issue of the repair of our national refineries.” “Second, consistent with our perception of the misalignment of Mr. President’s promises and offerings to the reality faced by millions of workers and ordinary Nigerians was the failure of President Tinubu to unmask those behind the looting of Nigeria’s commonwealth under the guise of petrol subsidy.
The NLC leader said it is unacceptable for the President and Commander-in-Chief to lament like ordinary Nigerians about a group that he routinely referred to in his speech as the “elites of the elites” who have stolen so much from Nigeria that they have become so powerful as to constitute a threat to democratic governance. “What Nigerians expected from Mr. President is a firm commitment to bring these economic saboteurs to justice and recover what they have stolen.
Thirdly, Comrade Ajaero noted that Mr. President’s statement on working with Organised Labour to review the national minimum wage is out of sync with what has played out since President Tinubu removed the so-called petrol subsidy. “In all the meetings scheduled by the government, Organised Labour has been forced to negotiate with empty chairs on the Federal Government’s side as the Federal Government has not matched its public promises with firm commitment to negotiate in good faith with labour. As a matter of fact, the sub-committee on wage award has not been inaugurated and has not met.”
Furthermore, he stated that Organised Labour is disturbed that while President Tinubu, in his speech, lavishly praised the private sector for quickly dispensing wage awards to their employees, the federal government has failed to do the same for public workers in its employment. “This is a clear case of failing woefully to live up to the standards it has set for others to meet. It is open knowledge that the review of the national minimum wage is a matter of the law, which is expected to happen in 2024. How would Nigerian workers cope with the current reality of hyperinflation and suffering unleashed by the hasty removal of the so-called petrol subsidy till 2024, when the national minimum wage would be reviewed? This is incredible,” he stressed. Reacting to the President’s proposed palliative measures, Comrade Ajaero pin-pointed NLC’s fourth fault, “Fourth, the claims of interventions by the federal government through palliatives, loans and conditional grants to poor Nigerians, significant manufacturing concerns and small businesses and provision of CNG buses remain what they are –promises! Nigerians are used to such promises which have never produced any verifiable and meaningful changes in the lives of citizens.”
Continuing, he said, “Fifth for many Nigerians, it is incomprehensible that the principal actors in the current government, including the president himself, were clear in 2012 on the need to tackle the fundamental issues that brought about petrol subsidy. “Those issues included the failure of previous governments to repair our national refineries and bring those behind the monumental subsidy sleaze to book. Today, these issues were swept under the carpet in President Tinubu’s speech. Nigerians wonder “what has changed?” The NLC president assured Nigerians that the Nigeria Labour Congress remains committed to matching discussions with the government with the current realities of sufferings that Nigerians are going through.
“Until we see real commitment by the government to do the needful to improve the lot of Nigerians and ameliorate the sufferings workers and ordinary Nigerians are going through, we remain committed to continue with our struggle,” he noted. Organised Labour made good on its threat to embark on a nationwide mass protests, Wednesday, August 2023. Amid, the protests Comrade Ajaero and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Festus Osifo who also doubles as PENGASSAN President met with President Tinubu in a closed door session. Following the president’s promise to fix Port Harcourt refinery by December, Labour suspended the strike.
