The organised labour has warned that the multifaceted crises in the Niger Delta region and oil sector were grinding the nation and its economy to a halt.
According to Vanguard, the labour movement therefore urged the federal government to explore better and creative ways to address the Niger Delta crisis forestall further damage to the economy.
Speaking through the general secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, Issa Aremu, labour called on the Muhammadu Buhari led administration to initiate strong industrial policies to end the serial sabotage, attacks by militants, job losses and workers’ strikes and other persistent crises facing the oil and gas industry.
Aremu also advised the government to intensify negotiation with Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, (PENGASSAN) with a view to resolving the impasse which led to the ongoing industrial action by the union.
The labour leader said it was time for Nigeria to imitate other OPEC member countries by putting a stop to the endless crises in the petroleum sector through sustainable industrial policy and effective implementation of labour standards.
He maintained that such policy should include the promotion of collective bargaining, income adequacy for the workers, job security, promotion of dialogue between industry and trade unions and enforcement of labour laws that restrict precarious work, adding that government needed to implement real diversification of the economy by starting with oil and gas industry through value-added processing and manufacturing, which promote mass job creation, transfers of skills and technologies.
