Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the Nigerian worker who laid the foundations of the country’s sovereignty and freedom with their blood and tears have continued to nurture them till this day with their sweat and zeal.
He said this Sunday in his speech delivered at the 2022 Workers’ Day Rally themed: “Labour, Politics, and the Quest for Good Governance and Development at Eagle Square, Abuja.
The vice president said it was impossible to tell the story of the nation’s liberation from colonial rule without dwelling at length on the heroic contributions of the labour movement to that struggle.
He said the labour movement was the “heirs of a movement that was involved in literally building modern Nigeria.”
Osinbajo said the struggle for fairness and equity in relations between the employer and the worker and the campaign for the dignity of the Nigerian worker in the colonial era were closely bound up with the quest for independence.
He said in the days of the anti-colonial struggle, labour pitched its tent with progressive nationalist forces, stressing that “the labour movement belongs firmly to the progressive political persuasion.”
Osinbajo said the question of what sort of politics could deliver good governance and development was “decisively” answered by progressive politics.
According to him, “As a progressive, I believe that good governance and development mean compulsory free education for the unlettered, universal healthcare coverage, inclusion for the alienated, social mobility for the poor, justice for the wronged and social security for the vulnerable.
“The progressive vision of Nigeria is of a nation in which the relations between the government and the governed are defined by a social covenant. It is of a society in which no Nigerian is left behind. It is of a canopy of inclusive and broad-based prosperity in which the security and the welfare of each citizen are guaranteed.”
He said despite the challenges of recessions, the collapse of international oil prices, the COVID-19 pandemic which stalled the global economy and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine currently having a disruptive impact on global commodity markets, the current administration had been steadfast in tackling the issues facing Nigerian workers.
The VP said the federal government had pursued progressive agenda for inclusion and social protection in a period of global turbulence, stating that “This is why President Buhari implemented an increase in the national minimum wage in 2019.”
He stressed that no Nigerian, especially one who contributed to the development of the nation by way of labour, should be denied primary health care because of affordability, stating the government’s “goal is universal health care” and that “the answer is compulsory insurance coverage for all Nigerians.”
He expressed the readiness of the government to also expand and deepen the implementation of the Employee Compensation Act so that workers all over the country receive compensation for injuries suffered in the line of duty and in the case of death, their dependents were “adequately compensated.”
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