The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned the federal government not to concede to any policy adjustment that will impose severe burdens on Nigerians, stating that the ongoing campaign against cement manufacturers in the country portends great danger to the nation's fragile economy.
The Congress in a statement issued by its President, Abduwahed Omar, expressed concern over recent campaigns orchestrated by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) "that incidents of building collapse in different parts of the country occur simply because the quality of cement currently in use in the country is not the 42.5 type."
The Congress described the campaign as a ruse and a violation of all principles and logic of standardisation in relation with public interest.
It argued that government exist in the interest of the public adding that it would be wrong for any agency of government to be promoting policies that are obviously destructive to the economy and particularly harmful to the government's determination to create jobs while sustaining existing ones.
The cement industry, it said, is a major employer of labour stressing that policies directed at the industry must consider the collective interest of Nigerians and particularly the socio economic implications in terms of benefits to the economy and citizens of the country.
Noting that subsisting infrastructural challenges have done much damage to industrialisation in the country, leading to closure of several factories, the NLC warned the Federal Government not not give in to pressure as to allow manipulations that will ultimately rubbish its attempts at reviving the economy and reducing unemployment and its attendant societal burden.
It maintained that the country is already battling with too many social crisis than to accept new policies that will create bigger crises.
It insisted that building collapses in Nigeria have nothing to do with the 32.5 type cement as this type of cement have been in use in Nigeria for over 70 years in building roads, houses and other private and public facilities including government houses that are still standing strong till this moment.
"Government should avoid manipulations that eventually harm our collective aspirations for a society that benefits the populace and not individual interests. The combination of the West African Portland Cement, UNICEM, Sokoto Cement, Ashaka Cement, PURECHEM and other cement companies that are presently surviving the hardships unleashed on the productive manufacturing sector in Nigeria do have thousands of people in their employment, scandalously too inadequate for an industry that is key to infrastructural development in a country with a population above 160 million," the NLC stated.
Indeed, it further argued that the acceptance of the proposed policy change will certainly shut down the existing cement firms as well as lots of construction companies in Nigeria.
Ultimately,it emphasised that rather than sustaining and creating more jobs, government would have burdened the economy with more liabilities and less national income.
"As at today, there are over 27 types of cement globally in use for different purposes, and none has been proved to be less in quality to the other for the same use. There are 12.5, 22.5, 32.5, 42.5, 52.5 types as well as sulphate resistant cement, oil well cement, white cement among others serving different purposes across the world with tested qualities and environment compliance.
"In any case, even if we must change, why not the 52.5 type? And if change must occur, it shouldn't be sudden, leading to factory closures of upward of two or more years as the current industry campaign implies. For the existing companies to upgrade to 42.5 type, they would need to close up and consequently discharge existing workers in their employment. This shouldn't be the case of a country already excruciatingly burdened with so much unemployment," it stated.
It warned that workers in the existing cement manufacturing firms will be added to the saturated unemployment terrain noting that workers in the construction industry, another major employment generating subsector will also be affected. And this will mean all ongoing public construction works in the country will stop.
"Collapse of buildings, whether public or private buildings in Nigeria are results of lack of efficient monitoring as well as improper contractual assessments. We believe the S.O.N need to engage in better critical investigations and monitoring than its obvious haste to destroy market competition.
"Government agencies should be more interested in policies that are capable of reindustrialising Nigeria and create more jobs than subsuming themselves to manipulations that discourage competition. Such manipulations can't help the desired investment hunt.The Standard Organisation of Nigeria should act on all issues in public interest and desist from actions and policy statements that are obviously inimical to the growth of our economy," the Congress stated.
No comments:
Post a Comment