THE Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has advised the Federal Government to ensure it lives up to its promises to workers and the citizens at large, to avoid an outbreak of industrial action.
Director-General, NECA, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, in a telephone chat with Nigerian Tribune, said, “We have continued to appeal to government to strive to live up to its promise by meeting the organised labour in the middle.
“If it can’t meet all the expectations, at least, it should show some good faith by meeting them in the middle. I have also urged organised labour to do all within its power to continue to engage. We cannot run away from social dialogue even if the strike is declared for one to two weeks, we should still come back to the table to discuss this issues. This is our focus,” he said.
Oyerinde further said, “While we commend the president’s commitment to fix the economy and alleviate the suffering of Nigerians and organised businesses, more definitive, broader interventions with timelines for implementation will also be very important. The president’s address was full of intent but without definitive timelines for implementation of the laudable plans.
“While government continues to roll out its plans to ameliorate the challenges on the populace, more definite efforts with realistic timelines should be made to revive the economy.”
“It is not enough for the Federal Government to dole out money in the name of palliatives to state governments, a more innovative, effective and trackable distribution and monitoring mechanism should also be put in place to measure the impact and efficiency of the implemented schemes.”
The NECA DG went on to say that the organised private sector, since the removal of subsidy, has became creative in the handling of its challenges. “Many businesses have adjusted, many businesses have increased salaries, many have come up with different modes of working, may be one day or two days from home to reduce the pressure from traffic and so many issues on their employees.
“And this is not withstanding the fact that the private sector is in a precarious state. We face the issues of high energy cost; diesel is almost a N1,000, with 7.5 percent value added tax. We faced the issue of lack of forex. Forex is scarce than diamond now, which also impede on the power of the business input. Such high interest rate and also inflation rate is also dealing with businesses. In the midst of all these challenges, organised businesses have been able to do a bit to keep their employees happy and to reduce the pressure from the subsidy removal.”
The NECA DG further said that effects of strike on private sector businesses that are already going through a lot to stay afloat is not what government should allow to happen. “Anything that would compromise our ability to continue to pay salaries I think it should be taken into consideration if you compromise the ability of the business to meet its obligations to its creditors. Imagine a business that has borrowed from the banks in naira or dollars, when we go on strike, payment of interest does not go on strike, or payment of tax to government. Workers will also expect to be paid salaries during the period.
“Currently, over 3,500 workers are laid off in the manufacturing sector and over 7,500 in the whole organised private sector in the past one year. This is because businesses are crippled due to many of them are relocating and most of them cannot meet up with the realities on ground since last year. Strike is not for us; it would further crippled businesses, compound the businesses’ problems and also compound the realities of job security and salaries payment for the employees.”
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