The President of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Joe Ajaero, on Thursday decried the current state of the nation’s economy.
Ajaero, who called for the return of fuel subsidy and other policies, said this would make life easy and meaningful for Nigerians.
He made the call during a panel discussion at the 21st Daily Trust Dialogue and Presentation of 2023 African Award of the Year in Abuja.
The dialogue, with the theme “Tinubu’s Economic Reforms: Gainers and Losers’’, was organised by Media Trust Group.
The NLC President expressed concern on the policies of the Federal Government, describing them as Palliative Policies that has kept Nigerians in perpetual poverty.
Ajaero stressed that Government policies, from the time of President Muhammadu Buhari to the current government have made life difficult for Nigerians.
“The Nigerian people are the losers; look at the polices, from devaluation of naira, cashless economy, new naira notes, removal of fuel subsidy, Value Added Tax, increase in taxes and many others.
“These are being done without commemorating the increase in salaries of the Nigerian workers.
“Many companies have closed down. A lot of businesses have wind down, youths are leaving the country, the exchange rate to a dollar is N1300 as at yesterday.
“The people in government always give the same excuse for removal of fuel subsidy, ” Buhari said he removed fuel subsidy, and Tinubu came and removed the subsidy so that we will save money.
“But the government is still borrowing money. So, where is the money that was saved as a result of the fuel subsidy removal. The Nigerian people are suffering. A bag of corn now is over N50,000” Ajaero said.
The NLC president however said that there is still hope for the administration of President Tinubu.
“The difference that Tinubu can make is to change. We cannot continue to be doing the same thing that Buhari did and expect different results. There is a need to reverse policies that are causing so much pain to Nigerian workers”.