Strike: ACF welcomes FG/ labour unions truce

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has welcomed the truce reached by negotiations between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the nation’s joint umbrella body of labour unions, specifically the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

It however cautioned against the wholesale and unimaginative acceptance of out-of-context and largely discredited public policy solutions being preached by multilateral finance organisations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The ACF in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur A. Muhammad-Baba further warned that a lot more remained to be done in the administration of economic policies in the country.

According to the statement, “It should be instructive to our policymakers that Southeast Asian nations pulled themselves out of the economic crisis of the 1980s and 1990s by largely ignoring, not by accepting, the policy prescriptions of the multilateral agencies.”

• Banks, telcos’ N120bn debt issue threatens FG’s financial inclusion drive
• Strike: Our negotiation with FG at preliminary stage – NLC

The ACF noted that these negative economic conditions were felt more in the northern states of Nigeria, “Being largely the most agrarian segment of the country with the lowest per capita incomes, poor scores in all indices of economic development and standard of living measures, etc.”

“While sympathising with organised labour, ACF has been concerned, apprehensive and edgy that a protracted labour strike would amount to a double jeopardy for the people of the North, already disadvantaged as alluded to earlier. A middle ground was clearly indicated.”