Buhari saved 165,000 jobs of our members ― NUFBTE

THE National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) declared on Tuesday that President Muhammadu Buhari has saved over 165,000 jobs of its members due to his action and inactions on various policies of his government.

Against this background, the union said it had endorsed the President in Saturday’s Presidential elections, and called on its members to support his re-election bid.

In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by the National President of NUFBTE, Comrade Oyelekan Lateef, the union said: “Without mincing words, President Buhari has exhibited uncommon sense of urgency and responsiveness in addressing plights of Manufacturers in our Sector as expressly demonstrated by the approval granted for moratorium period for local sourcing of Tomato Paste and Vegetable Fat which made it possible for the concerned Manufacturers to effectively embark on aggressive backward integrations and locally source their materials at our Union’s instance.

“In like manner, it is on record that when the Government announced a plan to increase Excise Tariff by more than 500% on Spirit, Wines and Tobacco products, our Union intervened and made a special appeal to the Government to suspend the implementation of the increase.

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“This singular patriotic action of the President Buhari’s Government effectively saved the looming extinction of the affected companies thereby saving direct and indirect jobs of more than 165,000 of Nigerians.”

On other reasons for endorsing the President, Comrade Oyelekan added: “After an in-depth and diligent evaluations of President Mohammadu Buhari’s performance within a space of three and half years in office; most especially as it concerned our Union, we are convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that President Buhari’s Government has glaringly impacted our Union and generality of Nigerian positively in diverse ways.”

He pointed out that President Buhari’s Administration has painstakingly created an unprecedented enabling environment required for a stress-free Labour/Industrial Relations practice and administration both in the Public and Private Sectors.

This, according to his accounts for the relative industrial peace and harmony prevalent in all Sectors of industrial relations practice and administration, particularly in Food and Beverage Sector by the direct and indirect promotion of collaborative strategy between the Employers and Unions in our Sector.