Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday, lamented the depreciating value of the nation’s currency, decrying the continued slide of value of the naira.
NECA and NLC made their views known during NECA’s 64th Annual General Meeting, AGM, in Lagos.
President of NECA, Mr. Taiwo Adeniyi, said if government could address the issue of insecurity, rising cost of food and transportation, low investment pattern, challenge in sourcing of foreign exchange and rising inflation, there would be improvement in performance of all sectors/sub-sectors.
He lamented that the nation’s inflation rate hit a four-year peak in March 2021, as food prices jumped more than 20 per cent, heaping financial pressure on households already faced with a shrinking labour market and a challenged economy.
Adeniyi said: “The country’s external reserves fell to a 13-month low in June 2021, tumbling quickly to $33.8 billion, the level it was between 2015 and 2017.
‘’The reserves fell by $222.3 million between May 31 and June 10 to $34.0 billion, according to figures published by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
‘’The falling reserves could leave the country’s embattled economic outlook worse off as the confidence of foreign investors is partly influenced by the size of its reserve. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure oscillated between $34 billion and $36 billion and even crossed $36.5 billion occasionally.
“Nigeria’s current reserve is among the lowest of the oil-producing countries. For instance, it is less than 10 per cent of that of Saudi Arabia, world’s leading oil-producing nation, in nominal terms. The real disparity is even wider when the populations and import values of the two countries are compared. The decline has persisted despite the gains recorded in the global crude oil price.’’
It’s sad—NLC
On its part, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said: “The current high inflation is bad for businesses and country’s development. It’s sad, Nigeria’s currency no longer has value.
‘’For instance, since 2015 till date, our currency has lost its value more than 150 per cent when you compare it with our neighbouring countries such as Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic. In 2015, one million CFA was equivalent to N250,000 but today, one million CFA is equivalent to N 1 million.
‘’So this has greatly affected the cost of goods and services as well as the purchasing power of Nigerians. If you look at our demography, young people constitute a huge part of our population and that has largely been impacted by COVID-19 pandemic whereby a lot of people lost their job.”
Wabba lamented that as a country with over 200 million populations, the country was expected to produce 80 per cent of its consumption, but noted that the reverse was the case.
“So the 33 per cent unemployment figure was an understatement because we all know that we have an issue in this country when you talk about statistic and data so it’s above that figure. We need to understand that we have two categories of unemployment, uneducated and educated youths.
“The most dangerous category is uneducated and they are actually contributing to the insecurity going on in the northern part of the country. We must look at the ways to engage this category of people as well as taking care of those that are educated but unemployed,’’ he said.
Wabba advised the government to continue working towards creating a conducive environment for local businesses to thrive, so they could create jobs.
In his remarks, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, commended NECA for influencing economic and socio-labour policies that were creating a favourable operating environment for sustainable enterprise in Nigeria.
Ngige, who was represented by his Special Technical Assistant to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Ms. Chinedu Dike, appreciated the organization for cooperating with government in the peak of COVID-19 pandemic.
“We appreciate you for your commitment in the face of global pandemic. The negative impact of the pandemic is a global phenomenon and we believe in a systemic approach in addressing the situation and resuscitating the economy,’’ Ngige said.
Vanguard News Nigeria
