The Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Isa Aremu, said Nigeria must tailor its public spending to promote economic growth to avert social and economic collapse.
Aremu made the call in a paper titled “Nigeria’s Democracy and Economy Challenges” delivered  yesterday at a conference organised by the Kaduna State chapter of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Kaduna.  The conference has as its theme, “Nigeria’s Democracy and Emerging Security Challenges”.
He noted that Nigeria was still operating a “mono cultural economy based on pure extraction of oil and gas products without value addition. The GDP is being driven by oil and gas industry wholly dependent on imported fuel”, he stressed, adding that the nation would never grow in this manner.
The NLC vice president said the administration must redirect the economy to create value for its products, stating that this would generate massive employment needed “to mop up the high number of frustrated unemployed Nigerians currently on the street”.
He said the recent privatisation of the power sector must result in improved power supply to revitalise the manufacturing industry, which was key to bringing down current massive unemployment nationwide.
Aremu recalled the contributions of the manufacturing sector to Nigeria’s economic development in the past, saying government must focus attention in reviving the sector.
He said this was important in bringing to an end the recurring violence across the country precipitated by the pool of jobless, frustrated youths. “We must put industries at the heart of our economic recovery”, he said, adding that Nigerians should also begin to ask the leaders what they intended to do to transform the economy when elected in 2015.
He noted that none of the existing political parties in the country had any defined and identifiable policy, unlike in the second republic when each of the six registered parties had a peculiar policy thrust.
“Today’s political parties have no policy, the electorate have no idea what they are voting for. The economy should be at the heart of the issues for 2015.”
In a message to the occasion, Gov. Mukhtar Yero, represented by Alhaji Ismaila Isa, the Permanent Secretary Ministry for Information, said the administration was committed to the restoration of peace in the state.
He commended the chapel for organising the conference, saying the outcome would assist the government in its agenda for lasting peace and unity in the state.
Yero noted that peace had gradually returned to the state, attributing it to the collaboration existing between the people, government and security agencies.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Chairman of the chapel, Mr Luka Binniyat said the event was meant to generate discussions and chart a way for the restoration of hope in the Nigeria Project.
He assured that journalists in the state would continue to promote issues that would enhance peace, mutual respect and understanding, as well as engineer the government to do the right thing.