The Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) Auto/Precision Sectors have urged the Federal Government to revisit the privatisation of government-owned companies and agencies, stating that none of the privatised companies in the sector is functional.
In a communiqué issued at the union’s yearly industrial relations conference, held at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) in Badagry, the union alleged that the privatised companies have all stripped naked and the assets sold, thereby eroding the very essence of government’s vision of making the companies more proficient and productive for job creation.
According to President-General, SEWUN, Auto/Precision Sectors, Oyabugbe Sunday and its General-Secretary, P.E. Okonma, it is high time the government revoked the privatisation to make the sector rebound.
Among other challenges, the union lamented the crisis surrounding the floating of the naira, stating that many industries in the sector have shut down while others are planning to pull out of the country due to the government’s harsh economic policies that have wiped out the profit margin of the companies, making it difficult for them to continue operations.
The union pointed out that any economic policy that forces the closure of existing companies, creating a staggering unemployment rate, was not properly articulated and executed.
According to SEWUN, any country that does not manufacture and float its currency cannot survive, and the only path to survival in the country is a return to a fuel subsidy regime and forex control.
To this end, the conference-in-session appealed to the Federal Government to restore fuel subsidies and also stop the free fall of the currency through a permanent countermeasure of pegging the currency as a control measure to halt inflation and redundancies in their various workplaces.
On the challenge of non-implementation of the collective agreement by employers and regarding the N70,000 new minimum wage, the union urged both management and their local branch unions to treat the salary award at the domestic level to extend the salary adjustment to the benefit of members.
It equally urged the government to see labour as social and strategic partners in the collective quest for a better Nigeria, stressing that Nigeria can create more harmonious and productive industrial relations that promote a sustainable society for the benefit of all stakeholders.
