Ngige to labour: Don’t play politics with Nigeria’s destiny

 

                             Ngige

Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Thursday challenged leaders of organised labour in the country not to play politics with the destiny of the nation, but to engage in constructive engagement anchored on deeper appreciation of the challenges facing the nation.

Speaking at the 10th Triennial Delegates Conference of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, the minister said although every nation has its own peculiar challenges, what has made many nations great has been their resolve to succeed and turn the challenges facing them into new opportunities.

He said the current government is sensitive to the current plight of Nigerians and had committed itself to ensure that every possible effort must be made to ameliorate the present sufferings.

He said: “The defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2015 general election by the All Progressives Congress (APC) demonstrated the burning desire of Nigerians for a change. The rot of these years remains a major challenge and reality we all have to face as a government in particular and Nigerians in general.

“The careful selection of the theme is itself a manifestation of the determination of your union to adapt to changing realities through constructive engagement anchored on deeper appreciation of the circumstances we find ourselves in. This means we must not play labour politics with the destiny and fate of this great nation.

“Every nation has its trying times and what had made nations to overcome in history had been located in the constructive resolve of their people to succeed and turn those challenges into new opportunities for national growth and development.

“The present economic circumstances and the attendant hardships must be approached with new orientation and these sacrifices we are all called to make at this point in our national history are needful to correct the misrule of the last administration and put our nation on a sustainable path of economic recovery.”