May Day: APC charges workers to equip themselves with information skills during lockdown

As Nigerian workers celebrate a May Day stripped of the glamour of rallies and march past today, the ruling All Progressives Congress has called on them to use the lockdown to equip themselves with information and skills that would enable them to productively function in the changing global work culture and tap into opportunities that the eventual and gradual easing of the lockdown would bring.

The national publicity secretary of the party, Lanre Isa-Onilu gave the charge in a May Day message issued on Thursday.

President Muhammadu Buhari in a nationwide broadcast on March 29 announced a two-week lockdown of the Federal Capital Territory, Ogun and Lagos States. He had equally extended the lockdown by another two weeks in a separate broadcast on April 13, insisting that the decision was necessary to check the spread of the virus at the three epicentres through testing, tracing and treatment.

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In another national address on April 27, President Buhari announced a policy of partial lockdown, effective from next Monday.

Lanre Isa-Onilu in his statement noted that today’s  “Labour Day, or May Day, comes at a time the world is combating the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has kept economies across the world locked down.

“No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented disruption in our normal lives, particularly work. However, the long-term consequences of the pandemic — how it will reshape our work culture, ways of doing business, provision of services and new opportunities — are still difficult to imagine.”

While acknowledging what he called,  “the tireless efforts, resilience, patience and commitment of the Nigerian workers in the onerous task of nation-building, ” he assured the workers  that the Federal Government would continue to prioritise their welfare,  assuring that “President Muhammadu Buhari is putting all necessary measures in place to ensure that workers and, indeed, all Nigerians are not negatively impacted from the economic effects of the pandemic now and in the future.”

The statement further read in part: “The various economic stabilisation policies by the government and the establishment of the Economic Sustainability Committee by the President, which is headed by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is a clear demonstration of the seriousness the Federal Government attaches to the well-being of Nigerian workers in particular, and Nigerians in general.

“We urge workers not to relent in their support for this administration as we battle COVID-19, in addition to getting the nation’s economy back on its trajectory of growth as quickly as possible.”

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE