As Nigerian workers markede this year’s May Day, the Federal Government has been advised to tackle the security problems facing the country.
In his May Day speech in Abuja on Tuesday, NLC President Abdulwahed Omar said the congress condemned the senseless killings and destruction of property going in the country.
Speaking on the theme of the celebration, ``Right to Work, Food and Education : Panacea to Insecurity,’’ Omar said that since 2011 May Day, the spate of bombings in the country had escalated.
The NLC president said that the terrorist ideologues were able to recruit willing and daring foot soldiers with ease because of deeply rooted and decaying social conditions in the nation.
He pointed out that joblessness, hunger, poverty, lack of electricity; illiteracy and lack of access to education were among the decaying social conditions responsible for the current insecurity in the country.
Government policies need to be underscored and guided by the acceptance that its citizens have a right to work, a right to food, a right to education, right to electricity.
The NLC president stressed that the situation that necessitated the establishment of those agencies must be recognised in taking the final decision on them.
He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was set up because the police was not able to effectively deal with corruption.
According to him, any recommendation that seeks to abrogate the EFCC at this point of the struggle against corruption must be rejected.
For example, we do not agree with the logic that because corruption is a crime, the police should deal with it.
It is precisely because the police could not and has not effectively dealt with it that the special intervention agencies like the EFCC became necessary.
Similarly, the Trade Union Congress President, Mr Peter Esele, in his address, said that lack of basic social needs of the people would always result in violence and bloodletting in a country.
``When jobs, housing and basic education are not secure, access to basic education and basic medical care is not guaranteed, the logical consequences become, the spate of bombings, the bloodletting and the overflow of the blood of innocent Nigerians on the streets of Nigeria.
Esele stressed that the failure of past governments to address the concrete and foundational issues confronting the ordinary Nigerian citizen over the years had led to this unfortunate passe.
``The citizens have therefore found these avenues as routes for expressing their discontent both with their poor existential conditions and the politics that have produced it.
``The security challenges have led this nation inexorably to the point where our co-existence as diverse entities within a nation state has become seriously questioned and challenged.
We do not only condemn the perpetrators of the bombings going on in the country, we also condemn those who have come out to ride on the tide of this to call for certain negotiations.’’
The TUC president called on all Nigerians to work together as a nation to put a stop to the present crisis which could lead to anarchy and chaos and said that it was worrisome that some people had chosen to play politics with the ongoing spate of bombings and wanton destruction of lives and properties.
They must make conscious efforts to open up the political space, allowing broader participation of all in the governance of the nation and showing increasing tolerance and patience for opposing views and dissent.
The Federal Government must also see this insecurity as a great opportunity to redress the various foundational challenges confronting the ordinary citizen, rather than as an opportunity to arm the security agencies the more.
He stressed that the major weapons that was needed to confront Boko Haram was openness in government.
Esele said allowing access of all to quality education and the deliberate creation of greater safety nets to the most vulnerable groups within the nation would also put an end to some of these challenges.
Government is about people, it should therefore be brought closer to the people and the present rush to abdicate responsibilities in the guise of PPP and outright privatisation should be reconsidered and mediated so that the people can win.
The celebration was attended by many affiliates of the labour unions across the country.
Labour suggests way out of security challenge
The Kwara chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have urged the Federal Government to rise decisively to the security challenge in the country.
Comrade Farouk Akanbi of NLC and Comrade Israel Adebisi of TUC made the statement on Tuesday in Ilorin at a workers' rally commemorating the Workers' Day.
Farouk in his address, said that government could effectively tackle the challenge if the education sector was revamped and more employment opportunities created.
He said the menace of Boko Haram, kidnapping, armed robbery incidents and pipeline vandalism can effectively be checked if we fix our public education sector,
The labour, however, urged the Kwara Government to implement the N18, 000 minimum wage in view of the economic hardship facing the workers.
The NLC and TUC, also called on the state government implement the weigh-in allowance for the media practitioners in its employment as approved by the Federal Government.
In his goodwill message, Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed promised to look into the demands of the labour.
The governor, who was represented by the Head of Service, Alhaji Dabarako Mohammed, said however, that government would implement the minimum wage ``fully'' as soon as its allocation increased.
He commended the labour for maintaining industrial harmony in the state and urged it to continue to support the government.
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