ENGAGE GOVERNMENT TO BUILD SOCIAL AMENITIES, ABE URGES LABOUR
Congratulates President Tinubu on one year in office
Former representative of the Rivers South East Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe has called on the organized labour in Nigeria to engage the government in building social amenities and not just to ask for money as that would worsen the economy.
Abe made the call while speaking on a National Television program in Abuja over the weekend.
He said the amenities would provide comfort and convenience for the basic needs of the workers. Functional electricity, efficacious and sustainable health care, effective and affordable education as according to him is the fulcrum on which a quality life revolves.
The Senator said: “I don't believe that they are talking for the workers because if you are a labour movement, when you are discussing this kind of issue, you are not going to sit down and start calculating what one individual will need to buy his own car, fuel it, pay his own medical bills. That's not how a country works”.
The former Secretary to Rivers State Government ( SSG), stated that If labour is looking at what is best for the interest of the Nigerian worker, labour should not just say government should give everybody one million naira or more because anybody who understands economics knows that if you give everybody one, one million, the money will be useless to them. In less than a month, inflation will make everything one million naira, and the one million naira will turn to ten naira. So the people will suffer.
He argued that when you go to negotiate with government, you don't talk as if you are going to make every individual have money to be his own government.
You must engage the government for the needs of the people. What do people need money for? People need money for medical care. People need money for transportation. People need money for housing. People need money for school fees. There are different reasons why people need money.
“If you live in London, the British government does not pay everybody enough money to buy their own car. But they run an underground rail system that makes it that cheap for everybody in London to be able to move around whether you have a car or not. And they give concessions to the elderly, to students, to children. They have all sorts of rebates.
“So with just 30 pounds you can move around London to everywhere you want to go for one month. You don't need to own a car. So if British labour are going to negotiate with the British government they won’t say pay everybody enough for them to have their own car, and fuel it, how is that going to work?
“Why is Labour not discussing education? Not discussing how to revamp the schools. They are not discussing housing for the Nigerian workers. They are not putting up anything for mortgages and all that for public housing. They are not discussing public transportation. They are not discussing any of the things that the worker really needs to be an efficient worker. All they are focusing on is give everybody enough money. What kind of discussion is that? How will that help people. So, if your focus is on Nigerian workers, you should know what the problems are”.
The former chairman on FERMA at the 8th National Assembly maintained that money is only a tool to achieve something. “If you can achieve those things for which you need money, without having all the money, then the country will be a better place for all”.
He further said, that civil servants in other countries where things are working are able to turn down bribes because workers are not under pressure to pay cash for everything, but civil servants in Nigeria can not turn down bribes because they have to pay cash for everything.
He averred that even if you are an honest person in Nigeria, you must have money to pay cash for everything, because the government doesn't do the things they are supposed to do.
“So, if labour is serious about helping the Nigerian workers they should not just be talking about money. If you give everybody money, you know what that will cost? It will make the money useless. They should engage the government on how to provide social amenities. By the time you take out those concerns for the parents, and the people, they will do their work efficiently and effectively” he posited.
He used the medium to congratulate President Bola Tinubu on his numerous achievements within his one year in office.
Senator Abe said: “the President has been consistent in his electoral promises and his commitment to the renewed HOPE Agenda and the improvement of the welfare and security of Nigerians.
“I want to say categorically that any objective observer, objective is the word, will agree that despite a very, very rocky foundation and despite the very difficult economic circumstances in which the nation has found itself, from years of neglecting the things that we ought to do, I believe that the President has started very well and the renewed hope agenda is on course. And he has also shown the ability to listen to Nigerians.
“If you watch what happens in the country, whenever the people are on one side and the government is on the other side, the president will be with the people and the government will have to change”.
PARRY SAROH BENSON PhD, Mnipr
Spokesperson to Senator Magnus Ngei Abe
June 1, 2024
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