Forex crisis: Labour blames govt officials, meets FG today

 

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Sunday lamented the devastating impact of the forex crisis on the economy and demanded urgent stabilisation of the naira.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who said this in a statement on Sunday, blamed government officials’ love for foreign luxury products for the free fall of the national currency.

Ajaero warned that the economy was at risk of “a wave of devastating consequences” if the naira failed to stabilise against the American dollar.

The NLC president’s warning came ahead of the organised labour and the Federal Government’s meeting scheduled to hold today (Monday).

At the meeting, the Federal Government and the organised labour will review the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding they signed on subsidy removal palliatives.

In a statement titled, “Urgent action to stabilise the naira amidst alarming depreciation,” the NLC president, said repercussions of the weakened currency would be felt by workers and the masses.

While the investor & exporter window has been relatively stable at around N770 to 780/$, the parallel market, where most individuals and businesses get their forex from, traded at over N1,000/$.

The naira’s depreciation in the parallel market has been attributed to an increasing forex demand that does not equate to supply from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

This decline has further led to manufacturers struggling to get raw materials, with more companies planning to sack more workers or shut down. With the declining naira value, manufacturers are faced with cutting production, jobs, and raw material imports.

NLC blames politicians

The NLC, in the statement signed by its president, said public officials must stop their penchant for foreign goods to check the depreciation of the naira.

Besides the statement he issued the labour leader also addressed a press conference in Abuja on Sunday.

At the press conference, Ajaero disclosed that the union had been invited to the State House by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on the implementation of the resolutions on subsidy removal palliatives.

He said, “Hopefully, we may meet tomorrow (today) with the Federal Government to see whether the agreement with organised labour on the fuel subsidy removal palliatives was met or not.