|The President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Bala Kaigama, has said naira devaluation is not the answer to the country’s economic problems.
He urged the Federal Government not to embrace devaluation unless the percentage of devaluation is equivalent to the percentage increase in the national minimum wage.
Speaking with The Nation, Kaigama agreed that a combination of the after-effects of years of fiscal indiscipline, mismanagement of resources, unacceptable electioneering spending, corruption, policy reversals, unproductive borrowing, falling crude oil prices and serious issues of internal security had dealt a blow to the economy.
He said inflation had hit double digit, while the value of the naira had collapsed against major international currencies, noting that as an import-dependent country, the implications for the ordinary Nigerian are enormous. Apart from forcing the cost of living to rise, the purchasing power has dropped and jobs are being lost.
Charging the Federal Government to look inward, the TUC boss cited countries, such as India, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, and others, which were nowhere in terms of development in the 1970s/80s, but have transformed into giants and premium net exporters of goods and services and are doing well today.
He advocated for the re-negotiation of Nigeria’s current loans in the light of the burden debt-servicing constitutes to the budget – about 23 per cent of the total budget.
The United Action for Democracy (UAD), in a statement titled, “IMF never means well for working class-people, the poor must not bear the burden of “Recovery”, also warned that nothing good can be expected by working class people from the international financial institution.
Its National convener, Baba Aye, said IMF would never throw its weight behind a developmental agenda that is beneficial and is driven by the working masses.
He said: “The removal of fuel subsidy by sleight with the mask of price modulation is itself based on IMF policy advice calling for deregulation.
“Without fixing the problem of domestic refining, fuel pump price is likely to rise despite falling global prices of oil, as a result of freight and related costs of fuel importation. Removing fuel subsidy instead of pulling down the house of corruption that has smeared it amounts to throwing away the baby with the bath water.
