The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is mobilising the general public for mass protest against the government and its institutions over what it described as high level of corruption in the country.
President and Secretary-General of TUC, Quadri Olaleye and Musa-Lawal Ozigi respectively, in a statement, said it was inhuman for government to hike electricity tariff, Value Added Tax (VAT) and price of petrol only for the criminals in government to loot the money through award of illegal contracts.
The congress said it would henceforth take serious action against government policies, “because you cannot keep telling the people to tighten their belts while you loosen yours.”
Olaleye and Ozigi, in the statement, said the union was disturbed by alleged corrupt activities going at the ministries, agencies and parastatals and had vowed to call out members “to reclaim Nigeria from an insignificant few that have cornered the wealth of the country to themselves and cronies.”
They said the revelations at the National Assembly during the recent probe of the activities at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the collapse of the Managing Director, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, were nothing but a national disgrace.
According to the congress, it is now obvious that the country has become a laughing stock before the international community. TUC urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the current cases of corruption are not swept under the carpet, and that the culprits are seriously dealt with as it is done in most climes.
“Why should the National Assembly members leave the business of making laws to pursue contracts? The lawmakers award contracts to themselves, receive payment upfront but never move to site.
“How could all these happen in a region without potable water, good schools and road network? How could NDDC spend N122.9m for condolences when there is no good hospital for the sick? Why should this happen in a region where governors are saying they do not have the financial strength to pay the new minimum wage? Yet our leader, Muhammadu Buhari is celebrated worldwide as anti-corruption czar.
“We hereby use this opportunity to call on Nigerians to learn from what is happening now and stop trading their destinies and those of their children for packs of indomie, matches and wrapper materials. The current level of corruption now is far more than what we have had since independence. It gets worse by the day.”
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