The organised labour had on Sunday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to see the planned economic conference as an opportunity to come up with strategies that could get the country out of its current economic situation.
The two labour bodies in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress pointed out that the economy had stopped functioning.
NLC and TUC are of the opinion that the state of the economy had not been as bad as currently being experienced since the civil war.
The organised labour demanded a fast response to the current economic reality.
The President of the TUC, Mr. Bala Kaigama, and the General Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, told newsmen on Sunday that the organised Labour was not invited to the crucial economic retreat scheduled to kick off on Monday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Ozo-Eson told The Punch that the organised labour and Nigerians were waiting on the Buhari-led government to come up with measures that could bring life into various sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and solid minerals.
He noted that he was looking up to economic policies that will focus on how to transform solid minerals in the country to finished products in order to avoid a repeat of the situation where crude oil was sold without any further step to convert it to finished product.
He said, “We are not invited to the summit. So, if they are having their summit, we know they should be able to articulate positions, to discuss how to get this economy functioning because right now, it is actually not functioning. And there is a need to kick-start the economy.
“So it is their own, it is a government summit. We await the outcome but what is crucial is that this moment, a quick decision needs to be taken, and policies put in place to make this economy functioning again.
“We await what policies they will articulate in terms of manufacturing, in terms of agriculture, in terms of solid minerals but not just solid minerals, even a long term plan for it so that solid minerals will not also have the same problem that oil has.
“A programme that transforms the minerals into finished products is what will add value to the economy.”
Kaigama added that the economic conference was crucial because the country was in dire need of economic policies to address the falling economy.
The TUC president further observed that the nation’s economy had not been this bad except during the civil war, calling on the government to come up with plans to remedy the “frightening” situation.
He added, “We encourage them to come up with the economic summit even though we are not part of it, we have not been invited. Nigeria needs a very proactive economic policy now that will address the woes of the economy.
“We are in the worst in terms of economic experiences. We are not in good terms in terms of our economy at all. It had never been this bad except during the civil war. So we hope that the government would take steps to remedy the situation,” he concluded.
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