The Steel and Engineering Workers’ Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) has scored the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) low over its handling of the privatisation process in the country.
Its National President, Comrade Elijah Adigun, who spoke at the union’s yearly Industrial Relations Conference held at the Teachers’ House, Ibadan, said the BPE, saddled with the responsibility of selling partially and wholly owned Federal Government companies, has not done well.
“The BPE that was saddled with the responsibility to sell partially and wholly owned Federal Government companies, ostensibly to increase capacity utilisation and create jobs for our teeming workforce must be ashamed of its achievement as nearly all the companies privatised have either closed shop or are comatose,” he said.
Adigun cited the case of the steel industry, which has been comatose to include automobile companies such as Anammco Limited, Enugu; National Truck, Kano; Steyr Nigeria Limited, Bauchi and Leyland Nigeria Limited, Ibadan, designed for the manufacturing of trucks, medium and long range mass transit system because of the steel firm’s inability to supply raw materials to them .
The country, he said, continues to deplete scarce foreign reserves to import needed vehicles for its mass transit system.
He said whereas the Federal Government established Peugeot Automobile Nigeria (PAN) Limited and Volkswagen of Nigeria (VON) to provide the country’s official and pleasure cars, the aforementioned vehicle assembly plants are lying idle and their premises being used as warehouses for junks imported from Asia.
Adigun faulted the claim by Volkswagen of Nigeria that it has begun assembling vehicles in the company, pointing out that such claims are mere publicity stunts to deceive the world.
In a similar vein, the its Deputy General Secretary, Mr. Okonma Paul, said the essence of privatisation in the steel sector has been completely defeated, adding that the investor, who bought most of the steel manufacturing companies, does not know anything about the sector.
The union, he said, has written the BPE on two occasions to show its disagreement on the way issues are being handled.
Adigun also blamed the comatose state of the manufacturing sector on the epileptic power supply, describing it as one of the major hindrances to the growth of the sector. He regretted that the cries of the union for improved power has received little or no attention from the concerned authorities.
He said although every succeeding government claimed to have sunk billons of dollars to address the malaise, but the impact has not been felt in the industry, noting that, the situation has allegedly contributed to the crippling of the manufacturing sector regarded as the hub of employment generation.
“This is exactly the reason for the manufacturing division of most private sector companies’ relocation to neighboring countries, while bringing finished goods to our country. The implication is that our economy creates jobs for the home countries of manufactured goods at the detriment of our teeming workforce,” Adigun said.
The high interest rate regime in the country, according to him, is crippling business and fuelling inflation in the economy. He added that the situation is further compounded by the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commercial banks to retain 50 per cent of public sector funds in their custody.
He said except this high cost of obtaining fund is addressed, the plight of the industrial sector will grow from bad to worse.
Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Oyo State Branch, Comrade Bashiru Olanrewaju urged steel workers to improve their productivity because it is the only way to be competitive in the labour market, adding that the steel industry must be embraced for the country to where it should be.
“Our nation should get a functional and effective steel sector. If we must grow, we must also embrace Information and Communications Technology (ICT). We can also learn from other nations like China, Japan,” he said.
He said about 30 years ago, nobody respected China and Japan. But today, they are respected because they have embraced the industry, developed their steel manufacturing industry.
