TUC Cautions FG On Foreign Loan

The Trade Union Con
gress of Nigeria (TUC) has cautioned the Federal Government not to mortgage the country’s future through resort to foreign loans borrowing.
The TUC in a statement by its president, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and obtained by The Tide said the union was worried with the country external debt profile hitting $ 9.38 billion.
Kaigama said in 2005 under the regime of President Olusegun Obasanjo Nigerians celebrated with fanfare the external debt exit, stressing that it was surprising that by December 2010, Nigeria external debt portfolio had risen to $ 4.78 billion.
He said “this is very sad so, if the foreign debt regime now stand at $ 9.38 billion it follows that external debt profile has risen by almost $ 5 billion which is about 100 per cent in less than four years.
“This is very unfortunate moreso when the impact of the foreign loans are not being positively felt by the generality of Nigerians.”
He said “nobody should be carried away by the argument that the country debt stock is still less than 26 per cent of GDP the so called international standard Kaigama said the country went through hell when its debt stock was about $ 35 billion, stressing that the country was sliding back to where we were before 2005.
The Labour leader said although the Debt Management Office (DMO) stated that part of the loan was injected into the power sector, there is nothing on ground to show that electricity supply has improved greatly in the country.
It would be recalled that recently the Director-General of the Debt Management Office  (DMO), Dr Abraham Nwankwo had stated in Abuja that the country’s domestic and foreign debt had  hit $ 66 billion dollars over (N 10 trillion) with the external component being $ 9.38b.
Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria Rivers State has appealed to all Rivers People to join hand with the state government to ensure the effective containment of the fatal and highly contagious Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the state.
The state chairman of the union, Comrade Chika Onuegbu, stated this in his office on Friday while speaking to The Tide.
Onuegbu urged people of the state to be vigilant, follow the lawful instructions of federal and state health authorities.
The labour header enjoined people of the state to report all suspected cases to the dedicated Ebola hotlines.
Onuegbu call on all employers of labour to immediately educate their employees on the EVD and provide them with effective Hand Sanitzers and PPEs such as hand globes to avoid contamination.

Philip Okparaji