The organised labour has charged the federal government to enact policies that will protect local industries and allow them operate efficiently.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Abdulwaheed Omar, who made the call in Abuja, said such policies will boost job creation across the country.
Omar, who expressed worry over some recent policy changes by government, said the policy summersault will hurt local industries.

For instance, he explained that the abandonment of the import prohibition policy for carpets and some other related items in favour of adopting the Common External Tariff (CET) of 35 percent, could lead to factory closures and further loss of jobs.

“While we recognize that we have regional obligations, we wish to appeal to Mr. President to take a second look at this with a view to protecting jobs. We need to enact policies to protect domestic industries, which in the long run are the engines for creating sustainable jobs,” Omar said.

Speaking further, the NLC president said it was certain that the country cannot attain the targets set out within the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stressing that the extension of social security to workers especially those in the informal sector will go a long way in addressing the developmental challenges confronting the country.

“We believe and will continue to argue that the effective implementation of social protection floors as agreed by state parties of the International Labour Organizations is one of the effective ways to tackle hunger, want and hardship.

“Thus government must aggressively pursue progressive tax practices and work to defeat Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) and other harmful tax practices that diminish and delete national resource mobilization prospects. By so doing, we can be sure of steady flow of revenues to be channeled to deliver social services,” Omar said.

source: thisdaynews