“How can we be washing our hands with saliva by the riverbank?” – NLC asks.
The Federal Government on Tuesday was scolded by the Nigeria Labour Congress over additional loan-seeking from the World Bank.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, urged the Federal Government to focus on the recovery of more than $100bn the international oil companies owed the country. He made the call barely two days after the World Bank approved Nigeria’s request for $3bn loan for the expansion of the power transmission and distribution networks.
Wabba made this known at the opening of the congress’ 2019 national leadership retreat in Enugu. He also called for a review of the country’s taxation system so that the rich would be compelled to pay more taxes.
According to the Debt Management Office, the nation’s total public debt rose by N3.32tn in one year to N25.7tn as of the end of June 2019.
The Federal Government owed N20.42tn as of June 30, 2019, while 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory had a total debt portfolio of N5.28tn.
In 2017, the revenue target was N5.08tn out of which N2.7tn was realised. The Federal Government’s revenue projection for 2018 was N7.16tn out of which only N3.96tn was achieved. In 2019, the Federal Government’s projected revenue was put at N6.98tn. As of June this year, about N2.04tn had been realised.
A quarter (N2.5trn) of the N10.3trn 2020 budget will be spent on debt servicing, while non-debt recurrent expenditure will gulp N4.88trn. Only N2.14trn was allocated for capital projects in spite of the huge infrastructural deficit in the country.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had on Thursday at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meeting in the United States, admitted that the country was finding it difficult to service its debts.
Ahmed spoke 24 hours after the IMF advised Nigeria to increase tax to raise more revenue, saying the country needed a comprehensive reform to hike non-oil tax so as to get funds to build infrastructure.
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, had on Sunday asked the Federal Government not to accept additional loans from the World Bank, but recover money IOCs were owing Nigeria.
At the NLC retreat in Enugu, Wabba backed Falana, saying the Federal Government’s request for additional loans was unjustifiable.
He stated, “A few days ago, Femi Falana urged the Federal Government to reject an additional loan from the World Bank and instead pursue the payment of funds accruable to Nigeria from periodic adjustments in remittances by the International Oil Companies subject to increases in the price of crude oil above $US20 per barrel. Nigerian government officials failed to activate this clause for more than 20 years thus allowing the IOCs to stash away more than $US100 billion in unpaid royalties to Nigeria. It is incredible to imagine that we have this much stolen from us and we are going cap in hand to the World Bank for loans. How can we be washing our hands with saliva by the riverbank?”
The NLC president said the Federal Government should not only recover the $100bn, but also ensure the prosecution of officials responsible for the unpaid royalties by the IOCs.
He stated, “We call on the Federal Government not to rest on its laurels until it recovers every kobo owed us by the IOCs. Government officials behind this criminal neglect must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We call for a tax system that captures many businesses and rich people and compel them to pay more taxes in commensuration to their incomes.”
Also, Wabba said the government could not complain about lack of funds to pay workers’ wages and invest in public infrastructure and social services when it had a lot of public funds in private pockets.
He said, “It is no longer discussed in hushed tones that the government is struggling with liquidity. As we know, this crisis is rooted in bad governance. Two things define bad governance in this respect – institutionalisation of corruption in public expenditure and weaknesses cum sabotage in internal revenues accruable to government. On corruption in public expenditure, the issue of humongous salaries and allowances paid to elected public officials and contract inflation top the list of our concerns.
“On the other hand, the loss in government revenue due to internal sabotage by unpatriotic public officials is very alarming and worrisome.”
Wabba also stated, “We are faced with a situation where we are forced to bargain too hard and wait for too long for meager increases in the minimum wage and adjustments in salaries.
“Let me also inform you that there is a difference between the law we have and the law that had existed from 1981 till date. In 1981, when the first minimum wage was enacted, there were no provisions for sanctions.
“In this one we negotiated, there are provisions for sanctions because it is already a law. Any state or person that violates the provisions of the law, there are three ways to address it: one is that the worker can report to his union.
“Once you report, we can look at the means and avenues including a court to enforce the provisions of the law. So now there is a clout to enforce the provisions of the law. So clearly speaking, once there is an understanding or an agreement on the issue of consequential adjustments, the issue is settled and where there is an issue of none respect for the law, it can be enforced legally in a court of law.”
The NLC president criticised employers, who were reluctant to allow their workers to join unions. This, he said, had exposed millions of workers to indecent conditions of casual work status, “slave wages, long hours of work without due compensation, and denial of social security cover.”