From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Presidential candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi on Tuesday in Abuja, met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to solicit their support.
Peter Obi joined and became the flag bearer of the Labour party where NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are major stakeholders after pulling out of the presidential primaries of the PDP in May.
According Obi, Labour is the engine of production and are therefore the backbone of his commitment to move the country to a consumption based one.
He said “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 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.
He went on to say that borrowing is not the problem of the country as other countries are also borrowing to support their economic development drive. However, he said; “If you borrow for consumption, you are in problem but if you borrow for production, you will progress.”
“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 tragectory with Nigeria in the year 2000, Vetnam, 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.”
On their parts, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) assured that they would do everything within their power to ensure that Obi wins the 2023 presidential election.
The two bodies pledged to support and campaign vigorously for Labour Party flag bearer to enable him emerge victorious in the election.
In their different welcome addresses, NLC and TUC Presidents, Ayuba Wabba and Quadri Olaleye, stated that Obi is among the finest Nigerians and the first presidential candidate of Labour Party to be recognized by the labour Centre.
