Resign, if you can’t pay salary, Aremu tells govs

From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Former vice president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr.
Issa Aremu has said any of the 36 state governors who
cannot pay the minimum wage of N18,000.00 to workers,
should resign from office.
Aremu, who is the General Secretary, National Union of
Textile Garment Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), said such
governor has no reason to be in the business of
governance.
He spoke as the guest speaker at the 18th Joint Annual
General Meeting (AGM) 2015 edition of Manufacturers
Association of Nigeria (MAN) where he presented a paper
titled: “Government Patronage of Made-in-Nigeria
Products, A Panacea for Industrial Growth and
Development.”
He argued that one of the ways to judge performance of a
sitting President and all  state governors is their ability to
resuscitate collapsed industries in the country.
“Any state government that cannot pay salary has no
reason to be in business of governance, and, therefore,
any governor that cannot pay the salary should resign,”
Aremu said.
He noted that Nigeria was sitting on a keg of gun power if
its alarming rate of unemployment was not nipped in the
bud.
He said: “Nigeria is playing with fire because 24 per cent
of its population is officially unemployed, and 50 per cent
unofficially unemployed.
Some countries have a total of only 12 per cent
unemployment crisis. Nigeria must begin to prevent this
by reopening all closed factories to engage the teeming
unemployed youths.
“Labour strongly supports the urgent need to rebuild
Nigeria through targeted efficient massive productive
spending. President Muhammadu Buhari must be weary
of the emergency advisers who claim falsely that
government has no business in business.
“Government not only has business in business, the art of
governance itself is a business that must be done.
“Let me recommend Kaduna Governor, Nasir el Rufai to
other state governors in this respect. I learnt that the
moribund Kaduna furniture factory is almost back to
produce thousands of school desks for public schools in
Kaduna.
“The governor has also promised textile mills to produce
school uniforms. And another organisation, Crittal Hope, is
also back to life producing windows and needed metals to
fix the classrooms, Adamu said.