Organised labour has tasked President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to scrap security votes from public budgeting in Nigeria. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in its Situation Room report, in partnership with members of civil society organisations, said the call was against the backdrop of the abuse of security votes by many political office holders in the executive branch of government.
The NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, said the security votes should be appropriated and accounted for like every other budget item.
“We call on political office holders to reduce their salaries and allowances in order to free up finances for other areas of national developmental needs,” he said.
The labour leader said the NLC also called for an end to medical and education tourism for elected public officials and their families.
Wabba, who said that government should adopt a measured approach to the fallout of COVID -19, warned that Nigerians should not be subjected to unnecessary suffering.
According to him, the resort to economic stabilisation and austerity measures by the Federal Government would worsen the current economic crisis.
He said, “Experience from other climes should come handy at this time. Government should not cut down on budgetary allocations to education, health, agriculture and infrastructure, as these sectors are critical for the needed economic rebound and growth.”
He noted that while government groans over paucity of funds, no serious effort is being made to salvage the Nigerian economy from the dilemma of under-production and under-development.
Wabba said the solid minerals sector of the economy has been poorly governed, creating opportunities for government revenue to be siphoned by unscrupulous persons and organised criminal networks who are protected by highly placed political actors: “Furthermore, the failure of our economy to add value to primary resources has become our albatross. From our crude oil to agricultural products, the breakdown in our resource value chain has deepened our crisis of unemployment, dearth of foreign exchange reserves and local currency tumult.”