TUC President Calls for 3months tax holiday for workers
By NAN
The President of the Trade Union
Congress (TUC), Mr Quadri Olaleye, has called on the three tiers of government
to grant three months tax holidays to Nigerian workers.
Mr Quadri Olaleye, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) |
Olaleye made the appeal in his
contribution at the Workers’ Day Virtual (online) dialogue with stakeholders to
commemorate this year’s annual Workers Day, organised by The Nigerian Workforce
Strategy and Enlightenment Centre (NIWOSEC), in Ilorin on Saturday.
He also advised the government to
invest massively in the public health sector, to encourage frontline health
workers, urging government to give reasonable palliatives to Nigerians during
the ongoing lockdown.
He urged the government to diversify
the economy and standardise the health sector, stressing the need for the
government to create jobs and enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
The Executive Director and Lead
Strategist at NIWOSEC, Dr David Ehindero, said the aim of the virtual dialogue
was to develop an effective and participatory model of engagement for
stakeholders in the Nigerian industrial labour system.
Ehindero said that the need to
provide an alternative platform for stakeholders to commemorate the annual
event despite the COVID-19 related social distancing were amongst the aim of
the initiative.
“Part of the objective of the
virtual dialogue is to engender interrogation and discussion on the industrial
relation and workplace implications of COVID-19 pandemic.
“To articulate vision for a post
pandemic era, identifying structure and facilities needed to navigate the socioeconomic
environment after the current crisis as well as possible measures to avert
prevailing challenges should another challenge occur,” he said.
Dr Anifowose Kilani, the Chairman,
Signa Sabitors, also advocated for comprehensive and compulsory insurance cover
for Nigerian workers.
He identified the need for workers
to have access to genuine and authentic information, adding that lack of
authentic information can affect the psychology of workers.
“Government must handle relaxation
of lockdown with caution in order to forestall increasing rate of infection of
COVID-19,” Kilani advised.
The Director of Research, Planning
and Curriculum Development at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour
Studies (MINILS), Mr Edwin Anisha, also called on the government to ensure that
workers do not lose their jobs as a result of COVID-19 crisis.
Anisha advised government to develop
unique business models and avoid copy and paste of policies in its resolve to
address the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is need for government to
strengthen public health institutions to respond to emergency health challenges
and urgently ensure that there is reliable data with which they could
adequately guarantee social interventions,” he said.
The Vice-President, Industrial
Global Union, Mr Issa Aremu, in his contribution counseled workers to be
creative while COVID-19 crisis last.
“Workers and government should
explore the opportunities in the health challenges confronting the country, new
jobs can be created while concentrating on the old ones.
“I would also like to stress the
need for labour leaders to be more involved in politics and governance;
governance should not be left to politicians, everybody should be interested in
what is going on in the government.
“There is the need for comprehensive
approach to political and economic development as it affects workers,” he said.
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