By Comrade Issa Aremu, mni
NEC MEMBER, NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS (NLC)
AT THE UNVEILING OF BUHARI CAMPAIGN ORGANISATION (BCO) OFFICE IN ILORIN, KWARA STATE ON THURSDAY JULY 12, 2018
GREETINGS
· ALLH, EMIR
· OTHER DIGNITARIES
1) BUHARI; MINIMUM WORDS, MAXIMUM IMPACT
– Inaugural Speech in 2015
2) ECONOMY
– MACRO ECONOMICS DESPITE THE COLLAPSE OF THE OIL PRICE – Today Nigeria has stable exchange rate and declining inflation rates. With increasing external reserves, improved productivity in agriculture, President Buhari needs more time to implement the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) so as to enhance Naira value, create more jobs and revive the industry.
3) GOVERNMENT HAS BUSINESS IN BUSINESS
– We bear witness that through the activist facilitation of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo and Honourable Ministers of Trade and Investment namely, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah and Aisha Abubakar, Buhari administration has initiated a number of measures aimed at industry revival.
– President Buhari initiated and signed three (3) unprecedented Executive Orders by Vice President Osibanjo in line with the promise of President Buhari on the ease of doing business. Of special importance to textile industry is the order mandating Government agencies to spend more of their budgets on locally produced goods. This singular order would help in the recovery of the textile and garment industry.
THEREFORE:
– President BUHARI NEEDS more tenure to ensure that the public agencies make the executive orders a reality by patronizing locally produced textiles. The police and Customs department should stop buying officers uniforms from Bangladesh and China, when the surviving textile factories can produce at home.
– Nigeria currently spends over US$4 billion annually importing textiles and readymade clothing when it has the potential to produce for the local market and even export to the ECOWAS market of over 175 million people, as well as to the developed world (e.g. the United States under AGOA and EU GSP scheme which Kenya, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar and a number of African countries are already exploiting)
4) A KIND AND CARING PRESIDENT;
– CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER
– POVERTY ALLEVIATION AS A RIGHT FOR THE POOR, NOT A DASH
– President Buhari Federal administration has commendably also implemented Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) payments in almost 36 States that include Borno, Kwara, Bauchi, Cross River, Niger, Kogi, Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti. Indeed State governments regardless of parties should emulate the Federal government and build a kinder caring states.
– As a caring President, Buhari deserves another term to make sure that CCT is made universal as a right not passing interventionist fad. Both the Federal governments and States should make the cash transfer to the poor as a matter of right not charity.
– Buhari has fulfilled the provision of the 1999 constitution which says “the primary purpose of governance is the security and welfare of the citizens.” We should therefore support Buhari re-election such that there should be an annual increase of public expenditure on social protection to cover cash transfers to the old people, students in forms of bursaries and scholarships and cash for widows.
5) PRESIDENT BUHARI IS “PRESIDENT INFRASTRUCTURE”
– RAILWAYS
– Today in Abuja, President Muhammadu Buhari commissions the recently-completed first phase of the Abuja light rail project. He is also expected to flag-off the railway services signaling the commencement of unprecedented operations of the long-awaited rail services in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. The 45.245km standard gauge rail line from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to the Abuja Metro Station is the first of its kind in West Africa.
– The project had been in the works for over 11 years but only Buhari makes it a reality. The commissioning marks formal commencement of rail service and the fulfillment of a long-awaited dream for a modern state-of-the-art mass transit system for the FCT. The project that took more than a decade to complete, was flagged-off by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2007 but abandoned. The project which links some 13 communities with 12 stations at the Abuja Metro, Stadium, Kukwaba 1 and 2, Wupa, Idu, Bassanjiwa, Airport, Gwagwa Dei-Dei, Kagini and Gbazango.”
– ROAD RECONSTRUCTION-MOKWA JEBBA ROAD
6) ANCHOR BORROWERS AGRIC PROGRAMME
7) ANTI-CORRUPTION: MR. INTEGRITY
– All agree that Nigeria today proudly has a President that is incorruptible. Buhari should be supported to continue the ongoing fight against corruption which has restored Nigeria’s integrity in the world. President Buhari is exposing and catching public thieves but commendably prosecuting them.
– We support Executive Order 6. It is a constitutional move to check the corruption cancer. The perception of Nigeria as a corrupt nation is changing. The whole Africa has appointed President Buhari as the AU anti-corruption champion. President Buhari must be encouraged to continue the good jobs of the EFCC under Ibrahim Magu.
– Between January 1 and August 30, 2017 the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had reportedly recovered about N409 billion and $69.5 million (totalling N430 billion), among other foreign currencies, as proceeds of corruption.
– This recovered loot is more than the states budget of Niger: N108B Abia: 107B Enugu: 105B and Imo: 102 Billion and half of Lagos state’s budget of 813 Billion and same as Rivers state: N470 Billion. While South Africans decry state capture by Gupta families, the challenge Nigerians face is Republic capture by some corrupt leaders. Corruption has certainly almost killed most African countries, it’s time we joined forces to exorcise it.
8) SECURITY
“Besides Boko Haram, we are confronting other long-running security issues, namely herdsmen vs. farmers, cattle rustling, and kidnappings. This Administration is firmly resolved to tackle these challenges and to defeat them.” – President Muhammadu Buhari
9) DEMOCRACY
PRESIDENT BUHARI ON JUNE 12 AS DEMOCRACY DAY
Hail Buhari
– The courage and sensitivity of President Muhammadu Buhari for ensuring democratic consolidation by posthumously honouring Chief MKO Abiola, acclaimed winner of June 12 1993 Presidential election makes us to support him.
– The singular act of conferment of the highest national honour, Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) on Chief MKO Abiola, President Buhari had commendably rekindled faith in sustainability of democracy in Africa’s largest democracy. President Buhari gave the correct signal that never again would any group of people violate the mandate of Nigerian people through mandate annulment.
– President Muhammadu Buhari directed that henceforth Democracy Day will be marked every year on June 12, rather than May 29 which had been observed as Democracy Day since 1999 when the current democratic dispensation began. Kwara should join the democratic band wagon.
Nigeria’s Integrity Restored
– President Buhari had brought integrity to governance by shunning the hypocrisy and shameless denials of past leaders of Nigeria that June 12th was truly a watershed in the struggle for democracy in Nigeria.
10) LABOUR FRIENDLY
“How can anyone go to bed and sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months”? – President Muhammadu Buharu
“I actually wonder how the workers feed their families, pay their rents and even pay school fees for their children.” – President Muhammadu Buhari
– Inauguration of the minimum wage review committee on Monday 27 November. It’s better late than never. The 5 year cycle of the current Minimum Wage Act legally backing the subsisting negotiated minimum wage of N18000 signed by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 was due for negotiation in 2015, two years ago. The historic inauguration once again demonstrates the globally acknowledged concern of President Muhammadu Buhari to the welfare of the workers and citizens in general as contained in 1999 constitution.
11) INTERNATIONAL – GAMBIA
– BUHARI STOOD FOR DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA
12) LABOUR HAILS PRESIDENT BUHARI ON AFCFTA
– We hail the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari in allowing for more consultations and deliberations on the controversial African Union Continental Free Trade (ACFTA) Area expected to be ratified on Wednesday in Kigali, Rwanda. Labour also acknowledged and commended “the vigilance of all stakeholders”, namely manufacturers, NLC and business in calling for caution on international trade agreements that could undermine Nigerian development aspirations.
– While intra-African Trade can bring economic benefits to member states, there should be broad consultation and participation in the CFTA negotiations to avoid what he called “pit-falls of past trade agreements which have turned to be more devastating and negative”.
DEMAND
– We hereby demand a bi-partisan support for President Buhari.
– We demand coalition of Nigeria DEVELOPMENT NOT for Power.
