Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
The presidential bid of the Labour Party flag bearer, Mr Peter Obi, received a major boost, Tuesday as the organised labour, declared total support for him.
Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC; vowed to stop at nothing in ensuring that Obi emerges President in 2023.
Both unions declared their support in a separate speech made by their Presidents at the 10th anniversary lecture in honour of the late labour leader, Comrade Pascal Bafyau in Abuja.
In his remarks, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said that “Mr Obi is among the finest Nigerians,” and the first presidential candidate of Labour Party to be recognized by the Labour Centre.
Wabba declared that NLC would fully mobilize to ensure the victory of Obi and Labour party in 2023 general elections.
He expressed confidence that going by Obi’s track records and manifesto, Nigeria would be in for a better phase if the former Anambra Governor would be given opportunity in 2023.
On his part, TUC President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, said that “all the labour unions are pleased and are ready to work with Peter Obi and that the entire labour movement has accepted, adopted and will support, and ensure workers vote massively for him in the 2023 presidential elections.”
He said that Labour party is the party with the highest spread across Nigeria as every family has at least a worker.
Addressing the unions, Obi, said his visit to the leadership of the two labour centres was not to campaign but for a courtesy call, and honour the organised Labour on whose party and interest he is seeking election.
Obi restated that if voted into power, he would move Nigeria from consuming to producing country.
According to him: “My commitment is to move Nigeria from consumption to production and you can’t talk about production without labour. Labour is the engine of production, Capital and machine can do anything but labour is what makes it work. Because labour is the greatest contributor to production, it has to be properly remunerated.
“I don’t need to tell you how bad things are in this country today. if you are on wages, today Nigerians spend 100 percent of their wages on just feeding. So many don’t even know where their next meal will come from. They pay to train their children only for them to finish school and stay at home without work.
“These are issues we need to discuss about. Nobody can be president without sitting down with the labour organisation to decide the future of Nigeria.
“We can no longer have a situation where the leaders are here and workers are there. They must sit on the same table and talk. That is the beginning of the solution, that is what is happening all over the world.
“Nigeria is not a producing country. The collective effect of what we are suffering today is bad leadership. We have a leadership that concentrates on sharing. So you have to move from sharing formula to production formula.
“This is a country of 200 million people sitting on 923,000 square kilometers of land. They can’t feed themselves, they can’t export anything.
“Total Nigeria’s export including oil is under $2 billion for 200 million population. A similar country, not a first world country, one with the same trajectory with Nigeria in the year 2000, Vietnam, sitting on 331,000 square kilometers of land, a third of Nigeria’s land space and 100 million population, with half of Nigeria’s population, their total earnings last year was $ 312 billion.”
He said that more than half of the country’s youths of productive age are unemployed.” This is what the Labour Party is seeking to sit down to discuss for the future of our country,” he added.
Obi noted that Nigeria’s biggest problem is borrowing for consumption and not borrowing for production.
“If you borrow for consumption, you are in problem but if you borrow for production, you will progress.”
