Reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC was proposing an increase in the salaries of Civil/Public servants from 2016 is quite a surprise to say the least.
This is as a result of the obvious economic crisis the country is currently facing. As at the time this piece was written, the price of crude oil at the International Market bedeviled by glut in supply was $36.1 per barrel even though the Federal Government already worked out a budget proposal of N 6 trillion based on $38 per barrel of crude and the naira has fallen to over four decades low of N 260 per dollar.
Not many Nigerians are ready to exercise patience with the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration, but the sad tale is that successive administrations over the years frittered our treasury when crude oil was really black gold.
All we heard from government at all levels, was the sharing of proceeds from excess crude and no contingency measures were put in place for the ugly situation the Nation now finds itself.
More annoying was the sole dependence on crude oil as the mainstay of our economy, yet past administrations paid little or no attention on the state of the Nation’s four refineries despite huge sums spent as recurrent and capital expenditures by the NNPC.
The reality as at today due to bad and inept governance in the past are increase in job losses and salary cuts, with its attendant negative implication reflected in social vices such as insecurity and criminality.
The unavoidable fact labour (NLC) and State governments must face in a bid to manage the present economic crisis is to embark on salary cut and pruning down of all unnecessary political appointments.
Urgent and drastic sacrificial measures need to be taken to reduce frivolous recurrent expenditures by government at all levels, while practical diversification of the economy by investing in Agriculture and Solid Minerals must commence immediately.
Editor-In-Chief
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