NLC Partners Private Sector To Revive Ailing Industries

The Leadership of the Ni
geria Labour Congress (NLC) has restated its determination to partner with the private sector especially the manufacturing sector on ways of reviving ailing industries across the country.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the NLC National President, Comrade  Ayuba Wabba said the organized labour partnership with the manufacturing sector would build a strong alliance gearing towards the revival of ailing manufacturing industries in Nigeria.
Wabba said the enormous challenges being faced in the country today were as a result of the collapse of basic infrastructures such as electricity, roads and high cost of petroleum products.
He emphasized that putting these factors together which are necessary factors in production chains have made manufacturing of products difficult, thereby leading to the closure of not a few industries, but a lot more had to relocate to other countries.
The NLC boss said that the promise of jobs for the unemployed Nigerians can not be actualized until industries are revived, stressing that the energy sector is critical to manufacturing  and any government that is serious about reviving the economy must make the revival of the sector a priority.
Wabba said the manufacturers spend much money to run power generators for production in Nigeria than elsewhere due to the collapse of public electricity, adding that in Nigeria today, cost of production was too high for the manufacturers to bear.
He said manufacturers faced the challenge of competition with inferior goods imported into the country, stressing that these substandard  products are sold at cheaper rate to deprive and undermine Nigeria’s manufacturing of local products.
The labour leader said that apart from infrastructural decay, Nigerian manufacturers are also faced with other challenges such as indebtedness where after delivering services, they don’t get paid for such services and products delivered.
The NLC boss urged the Federal Government to impose a total ban on the importation of all goods produced locally by Nigerian manufacturers, stressing that the country can be a major manufacturing hub in Africa if the federal government encourages local manufacturers and priolitise the power sector.
He said the revival of ailing industries would provide job opportunities to millions of Nigerians stressing that the labour would do its best.

Philip Okparaji