THE Director General of the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, has disclosed that the institute is set to promote awareness in organised labour and civil society community on President Muhammadu Buhari’s new National Development Plan (2021-2025).
Speaking at a Finance and Economic Development interactive forum with workers in the formal and informal sectors from the North-West in Kaduna which was organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday, Comrade Aremu commended the Buhari administration for what he called “a return to National Development Plan after decades of ad hoc neo-liberal sectoral reforms” adding that “nations that failed to plan only muddle through to fail.”
On Wednesday in Abuja, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) announced a 4-year N348 trillion Development Plan to replace the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017-2030) and the Vision 20:2020).
According to Comrade, President Buhari has, with the new plan that would outlive his government, shown that “statesmanship is about nation-building not the next election as some state actors tend to poison the polity.”
The Director General therefore urged organised labour to “constructively support and engage the Plan which he said enjoyed the inputs of labour at preparation through its participatory inclusive process.
Comrade Aremu hailed the annual growth target of 5 per cent, 21 million full time jobs and 35 million poor eradication targets of the new plan saying the targets are “not only desirable but achievable”.
“Labour creates wealth so labour must be active at any growth discussion with a view to ensuring equitable distribution of wealth for the majority,” Aremu said, adding that it was part of MINILS mandate to promote knowledge about critical labour and economic issues, adding that the institute will complement the efforts of Ministers of Finance and Budget to popularise the objectives and content of the Development Plan.
He commended the CBN under Godwin Emefiele, which he said through monetary policies and targets development financing, had set the tone for the framework for the new National Development Plan in terms of stable macroeconomic measures, value addition and employment creation.
Aremu also called on trade unions to engage the CBN in taking the advantage of all the development interventions of CBN to enhance the welfare of their members.
