May Day: Atiku salutes Coronavirus health workers, wants NASS to criminalize salary slash
By Our Reporters
FORMER Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has lauded the nation's health workers for their dedication and sacrifice in helping to contain the spread of coronavirus.
He also said the crash in crude oil price in the international market is a blessing in disguise for Nigeria.
Atiku in a statement issued in Abuja, said it was to the credit of health workers that 307 persons, including his son, Mohammed, had so far been successfully treated.
He said: "Because this year’s Workers Day is coming at a time when we are in the middle of a ravaging health pandemic, I believe it is more appropriate to use the opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to our health workers who have been leading the battle to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus in our country. We cannot thank you enough.“"The outbreak of this pandemic however has vindicated organised labour’s long time agitation for improved investments in our healthcare service system.
''There is no doubt that when the world comes out of this depressing anguish, governments will look around and see the absolute necessity to increase spending on healthcare, human capital development, better standard of living for the people and all those other topical issues that Labour has long called our attention toward.
"We are all witnesses to the reality today that governments across the world have fallen short of the requirement to keep people safe and healthy if there is a sudden and unexpected shock. For a developing country like ours, this is a moment of truth - a time for us to look inwards and accept that the strength of our national security is intrinsically connected to how virile our workforce is. ''That is a lesson that we must be ready to learn from this pandemic. That no matter what, we are all exposed to the same dangers when the time is dire.
"No one ever envisaged that the global economy could afford to shutdown for several weeks with heavy consequences on businesses - both public and private sector.
"But even the greater casualties of the current lockdowns are the workers. There are abundant reports about how companies and corporations are laying off staff and cutting wages. Even many state governments in Nigeria could not pay monthly dues to workers who, even before the lockdown, lived on subsistent means, while some others are slashing workers’ salary on account of the COVID-1919 situation.
"This is a grossly irresponsible thing to do. It will be wrong of us as a society to say that the weakest of us, should bear the pain of this affliction. The reverse should be the case. It will not be asking for too much to urge the National Assembly to forbid any employer of Labour from penalizing workers in the effect of the pandemic.
"The grim reality of the situation that we are in today calls for greater understanding between government and Labour. It is therefore time that both entities saw each other as partners in progress."
"On the occasion of this year’s Workers Day, I join many across the world in solidarity with the Nigerian workers in particular who have been making great sacrifices to keep our frontiers firm.
"I want to however take solace in the can-do Nigerian spirit. We shall not give up. We shall not give in. It will take more than Covid19 and the consequential lockdown to knock us down. It will not be easy, but standing united, we can rebuild our country because it is the place we call home."
On the crash in the price of crude oil, Atiku Abubakar said it was a blessing in disguise for Nigeria, stressing that the country should use the current developments in the oil market as an opportunity to wean itself of dependence on oil revenue.
Abubakar said he had alerted Nigeria of the impending danger, and called for a strategic reserve for unsold crude.
He wrote in an article: “As at today, Nigeria is pricing its very low sulphur sweet crude at $10 per barrel, yet buyers are balking. Our sweet crude is becoming a little bitter. “I had earlier warned that Nigeria needs a Strategic Reserve to store unsold crude. Now, we have so much crude and no one to buy it, nowhere to store it, and little idea what to do with it.
“Barely three years ago, I had also alerted that the “crude thinking” promoted by our dependence on crude oil will lead to a rude shock.
“If you are still talking about oil, you are in the past. As far as I am concerned, the era of oil is gone. If you want to believe it, believe it. If you do not want to believe it, you will see it. It is crude thinking to continue to talk and base development projections on crude oil,” I had said at a public event in the nation’s capital.”
Abubakar, who contested for President in 2019, also said Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil was failing the country and that now was the time for Nigeria and its contemporaries to cure their addiction to sweet crude.
“For far too long we have grown high on our own supply, to the extent that we have neglected almost every other sector of our economy.
“This present rude awakening should be seen as a blessing in disguise – a blessing that compels us to take those drastic actions that will free us from the crude oil trap.
''We need to diversify our economy, and yes, it is easier said than done, but that does not mean it is an impossible task.
“In Nigeria, our diversification should embrace agriculture as the primary sector earmarked for development, because agriculture is a low hanging fruit, is key to ensuring food subsistence, and with the recent signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, AFCTA, which favours Nigeria’s economy greatly, Nigeria can take advantage of this to become an agricultural powerhouse in Africa,'' he said.
Culled from Vanguard
FORMER Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has lauded the nation's health workers for their dedication and sacrifice in helping to contain the spread of coronavirus.
He also said the crash in crude oil price in the international market is a blessing in disguise for Nigeria.
Atiku in a statement issued in Abuja, said it was to the credit of health workers that 307 persons, including his son, Mohammed, had so far been successfully treated.
He said: "Because this year’s Workers Day is coming at a time when we are in the middle of a ravaging health pandemic, I believe it is more appropriate to use the opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to our health workers who have been leading the battle to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus in our country. We cannot thank you enough.“"The outbreak of this pandemic however has vindicated organised labour’s long time agitation for improved investments in our healthcare service system.
''There is no doubt that when the world comes out of this depressing anguish, governments will look around and see the absolute necessity to increase spending on healthcare, human capital development, better standard of living for the people and all those other topical issues that Labour has long called our attention toward.
"We are all witnesses to the reality today that governments across the world have fallen short of the requirement to keep people safe and healthy if there is a sudden and unexpected shock. For a developing country like ours, this is a moment of truth - a time for us to look inwards and accept that the strength of our national security is intrinsically connected to how virile our workforce is. ''That is a lesson that we must be ready to learn from this pandemic. That no matter what, we are all exposed to the same dangers when the time is dire.
"No one ever envisaged that the global economy could afford to shutdown for several weeks with heavy consequences on businesses - both public and private sector.
"But even the greater casualties of the current lockdowns are the workers. There are abundant reports about how companies and corporations are laying off staff and cutting wages. Even many state governments in Nigeria could not pay monthly dues to workers who, even before the lockdown, lived on subsistent means, while some others are slashing workers’ salary on account of the COVID-1919 situation.
"This is a grossly irresponsible thing to do. It will be wrong of us as a society to say that the weakest of us, should bear the pain of this affliction. The reverse should be the case. It will not be asking for too much to urge the National Assembly to forbid any employer of Labour from penalizing workers in the effect of the pandemic.
"The grim reality of the situation that we are in today calls for greater understanding between government and Labour. It is therefore time that both entities saw each other as partners in progress."
"On the occasion of this year’s Workers Day, I join many across the world in solidarity with the Nigerian workers in particular who have been making great sacrifices to keep our frontiers firm.
"I want to however take solace in the can-do Nigerian spirit. We shall not give up. We shall not give in. It will take more than Covid19 and the consequential lockdown to knock us down. It will not be easy, but standing united, we can rebuild our country because it is the place we call home."
On the crash in the price of crude oil, Atiku Abubakar said it was a blessing in disguise for Nigeria, stressing that the country should use the current developments in the oil market as an opportunity to wean itself of dependence on oil revenue.
Abubakar said he had alerted Nigeria of the impending danger, and called for a strategic reserve for unsold crude.
He wrote in an article: “As at today, Nigeria is pricing its very low sulphur sweet crude at $10 per barrel, yet buyers are balking. Our sweet crude is becoming a little bitter. “I had earlier warned that Nigeria needs a Strategic Reserve to store unsold crude. Now, we have so much crude and no one to buy it, nowhere to store it, and little idea what to do with it.
“Barely three years ago, I had also alerted that the “crude thinking” promoted by our dependence on crude oil will lead to a rude shock.
“If you are still talking about oil, you are in the past. As far as I am concerned, the era of oil is gone. If you want to believe it, believe it. If you do not want to believe it, you will see it. It is crude thinking to continue to talk and base development projections on crude oil,” I had said at a public event in the nation’s capital.”
Abubakar, who contested for President in 2019, also said Nigeria’s dependence on crude oil was failing the country and that now was the time for Nigeria and its contemporaries to cure their addiction to sweet crude.
“For far too long we have grown high on our own supply, to the extent that we have neglected almost every other sector of our economy.
“This present rude awakening should be seen as a blessing in disguise – a blessing that compels us to take those drastic actions that will free us from the crude oil trap.
''We need to diversify our economy, and yes, it is easier said than done, but that does not mean it is an impossible task.
“In Nigeria, our diversification should embrace agriculture as the primary sector earmarked for development, because agriculture is a low hanging fruit, is key to ensuring food subsistence, and with the recent signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, AFCTA, which favours Nigeria’s economy greatly, Nigeria can take advantage of this to become an agricultural powerhouse in Africa,'' he said.
Culled from Vanguard
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