…as FG clears N758bn pension arrears
By Gabriel Ewepu
ABUJA – THE Director General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, MINILS, Comrade Issa Aremu, Tuesday, asserted that the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, unemployment figure is stable at five per cent, while the Federal Government has paid N758 billion in inherited pension liabilities, reflecting improving economic activity in both the public and private sectors.
Aremu stated this during an interview on Arise TV Morning Show, where he addressed the administration’s labour and pension record.
According to the labour leader, the NBS, applying the International Labour Organisation’s methodology, now puts the official unemployment rate at about five per cent, a marked improvement from the double-digit figures previously recorded.
He said: “Today unemployment is about 5% officially. And that’s quite remarkable. You discover that unemployment dropped compared to what it used to be in double digits, which means there’s an increasing level of activity and employment, both in public and private sectors.”
He also pointed to the opening up of the downstream sector, with modular refineries coming on stream and more people being engaged.
He noted that the manufacturing sector had similarly reported upbeat prospects for job creation, though he stressed that sustainable industrialisation requires addressing the energy crisis, saying, “You can’t have sustainable industrialisation without electrification.”
He further highlighted that many industries are now engaging in backward integration, sourcing raw materials locally due to the exchange rate, which is creating jobs at that level.
The key to sustainable jobs, he argued, is that it “has to be deliberate” and led by states with appropriate industrial policies, welcoming the “Nigerian First” policy as it begins to gain traction.
On the pension front, he (Aremu) commended the Federal Government’s N758 billion intervention bond, which has cleared inherited pension liabilities dating back to 2007. The payment reached 957,045 beneficiaries across Nigeria.
The labour leader, who also serves as a member of the presidential campaign council, has said that labour issues around secured employment, living wages and pension payments will shape the next election.
He tasked all leading candidates to present their scorecard with respect to decent and secured jobs, not promissory notes, adding that President Tinubu has commendably carried out reforms with job retention and expansion in the public sector, unlike mass retrenchment and downsizing that characterised previous reforms.
He called for “job and wage-led economic recovery” adding that organised labour must in line with the tradition of unions, must engage the government for a negotiated new minimum wage.
He commended the Tinubu administration for initiating two minimum wage reviews in three years.
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