NASU Decries High Rate Of Unemployment

The National Presi
dent of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), Comrade Ladi Illiya, has decried the rising rate of unemployment in the country.
In a statement issued after the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting  in Ilorin, Kwara State recently, Comrade Illiya said the rising level of unemployment was totally worrisome and required urgent attention from the federal and state governments to address.
Illiya urged the government to partner with the private sector to ensure that proper measures were put in place to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians especially now that the country was regarded as the largest economy in Africa and also one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
She explained that the country’s economy could not be regarded as one of the fastest growing economies in the world without a corresponding job creation for Nigerians especially amongst the youths.
The labour leader urged government at the various levels to ensure that the economy growth was accompanied by development of social inclusion, which will create job, social development and prosperity for the citizenry.
She said joblessness in the country was aided by endemic corruption and mismanagement of resources by the privileged few in positions of trust.
Illiya said NASU condemned in strong terms moves by some state governments to reduce or downgrade the salaries of workers currently being paid to them under the guise of inadequate resources.
The union praised the  effort of some state governments that had implemented the minimum wage of peculiarity allowances to its members in schools and colleges, imploring every other state  to ensure they implement the minimum wage.
The union lamented the lopsidedness and unlawful constitution of boards of management of various tertiary health institutions without the union’s input, stressing its total support and commitment to the struggle being spearheaded by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) for restructuring of the health sector.

Stories by Philip Okparaji