Labour tasks Buhari on power, critical infrastructure

The leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to muster necessary political will to deal with the challenges bedeviling the power sector and other critical sectors of the economy in 2017.

Ayuba Wabba, NLC President who gave the charge recently while reflecting on the state of the nation, stressed the need for government to take decisive steps by revisiting some of the policies that have failed to yield positive results.

In his overview of the budgetary allocations to critical sectors of the economy as captured in the N7.298 trillion 2017 budget proposal presented by President Buhari to the joint session of the National Assembly in December 2016, Wabba argued that the Presidency fails to address the under-funding of infrastructure.

From the total sum of N2.24 trillion proposed for capital expenditure, N92 billion is to be spent on agriculture; N529 billion is for Power, Works and Housing; N262 billion for Transportation; N150 billion for Special Intervention Programmes; N140 billion for Defence; N85 billion for Water Resources; N81 billion for Industry, Trade and Investment: N63 billion for Interior; N50 billion for Education; N92 billion for Universal Basic Education Commission; N51 billion for health and N100 billion for Special Intervention programme as seed money into the N1 trillion Family Homes Fund that will underpin a new social housing programme.

An additional sum of N213.14 billion is also proposed as counterpart funding for the Lagos-Kano, Calabar-Lagos, Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri railway, and Kaduna-Abuja railway projects.

While reflecting on the budget proposal, Wabba said: “our infrastructure continue to be underfunded; in addition to the under-funding of education, health and other social welfare facilities.

Worried by the unabated effects of economic recession on the citizenry, Wabba said: “We are afraid that nine months afterwards, we are not seeing the positive impact of government’s plans for the economy. It is common knowledge that in times of economic recession, governments put funds into the economy, building infrastructure and increase social spending to reflate the economy.

“Not much is being done in this direction to get us out of the economic recession. Government, on the contrary is sticking to its neo-liberal economic management path. The current situation in the energy sector is exactly what we will continue to have when we abdicate responsibility of the state being the driving force for the development of our society.

“Given our stage of development, our country needs to adopt the path of planning, the path of the state as the engine of development. Government therefore needs to reflect and possibly go back to the drawing board in view of unforeseen challenges in order to deliver on the promise of change!”

In the bid to reduce the country’s over-dependence on importation of petroleum products, the NLC chieftain called for deliberate action towards fixing the existing refineries.

“As with previous administrations, we have entered 2017 without the Federal Government having on the table a serious plan to turn around our dependency on importation to satisfy our petroleum products internal consumption needs.

“And yet we continue to be the only OPEC and Oil Producing Country that allows this type of situation. Everything we predicted would happen if oil price were increased are unfolding before our very eyes.

“Government needs to quickly address this challenge by creating an enabling environment for enhanced local refining to meet rising local needs.

“The dismal performance of the energy sector has continued to underscore the dire state of the nation’s infrastructure.

“President Buhari in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, captured it succinctly that despite billions of dollars invested over the years in the sector, Nigerians have continued to have darkness rather than light.

“Three years after the rushed privatization of the sector, things have moved from bad to worse. From around the country, it has been complaints galore from consumers about crazy bills.

“Distribution companies (DISCOS) rather than investing to install meters in homes and offices, continue to extort money from Nigerians through estimated billing system. In March 2015, the CBN gave N213 billion stabilization facility to the new private owners of the power sector. Less than two years afterwards, the government is planning to secure another N309 billion bond for the electricity sector, without visible improvements in their services.

“Government should either reverse the opaque privatization of the sector hurriedly done by the last administration, or ensure that those who run the sector provide electricity on regular basis and at rates consumer can afford.

“Closely related to this is the need for government to demonstrate transparency and good governance by obeying court rulings. The February 1, 2016 increase in electricity tariff has been declared illegal by a competent court in Lagos. Yet the government, via the NERC and DISCOS have refused to obey this court order till date,” the NLC helmsman said.

While decrying the challenge of policy somersault under the present administration, Wabba frowned at failure of Buhari’s administration to fulfill his promise of three million jobs yearly, emphasised the need to tackle the challenge of unemployment head-on in 2017 fiscal year.

“In the New Year, the crisis of monumental unemployment in the country will remain with us. The APC government at the centre had made clear promise in its manifesto of delivering 3 million jobs annually. After some 20 months in the saddle, it is perhaps time to ask the government to give a scorecard to the Nigerian people that went through a lot of odds to elect this government.

“How many jobs has the Federal Government and the 23 states controlled by the ruling party created in the course of the last 20 or so months, in furtherance of its pledge to Nigerians during the electioneering campaign. We had stated in our past May Day and New Year messages, as well as other policy pronouncements, that we have some ideas on how, we can create new and sustainable jobs. Unfortunately, no one in government has thought it necessary to give us a hearing on what these ideas are, and what they entail.

“Presently, we are not even sure which ministry or agency of the government is the focal point on job creation.  What we have said of the ruling APC party, applies in large measures as well to the PDP and the States they control.  We will in the New Year continue to knock on the doors of all organs of government and put on the agenda the massive unemployment situation the country is facing,” he said.