The Trade Union Congress, TUC, Thursday, took a swipe at the Federal Government over the recent approval of $1.96 billion for the construction of a rail line from Kano-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic.<\/p>\n
TUC, in a statement by its President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi, in Abuja, said construction of a rail line to Niger Republic was an insult to Nigerians and a waste of scarce resources.<\/p>\n
The statement read: \u201cThe Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has described the Federal Government\u2019s approval for the construction of a rail line linking Nigeria to Niger Republic as an insult and waste of our scarce resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy this latest move, it has indeed become obvious to the world that the managers of our country have ulterior and sinister motives: to ruin this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Congress is not averse to development. Constructing rail lines to Kano, Katsina and Dutse is understandable; but why extend it to Niger Republic? Why should we borrow from the IMF, World Bank and China to build a rail line to Niger Republic?<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there something this government is not telling us? How could the Federal Government come up with such an idea in a country where potable water has become a luxury; right to electricity is regarded as a taboo for an average citizen, roads have become death traps and our health facilities lack malaria drugs?<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sum, $1.96 billion when exchanged at the rate of N380 per dollar, is almost N800 billion. This can do a lot in the economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outbreak of the pandemic has exposed Nigeria to the world: our Federal Government was begging for ventilators and nose masks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur education sector is in a shambles. Agreements reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, over a decade ago are yet to be met.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are celebrating six decades of independence yet Ghana, South Africa, etc. are threatening and treating Nigerians in their country with disdain. It hurts. It really does!<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to a report from the Debt Management Office, Nigeria\u2019s total debt rose to $79.5 billion (N28.63 trillion as of the first quarter of 2020). Debt servicing gulps trillions of naira yearly.<\/p>\n
\u201cNews had it that Nigeria\u2019s sovereignty is at stake if the country fails to pay China! How could the Federal Executive Council, FEC, accept such now? Or, has the Niger Republic annexed Nigeria?<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment has not completed the road that connects Nigeria with other Western African countries yet the President Buhari-led administration approves construction of a rail line to Niger!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is Nigeria paying for? Or, could this be another way of looting our commonwealth in preparation for the 2023 electioneering campaign? The whole thing is becoming more confusing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour Excellencies, there are many roads seeking attention throughout the country. The Lagos-Ibadan expressway services every vehicle coming into Lagos, including the ones from Kano, Katsina and Dutse; why has it not been completed?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Niger Delta that lays the golden egg does not have good roads and potable water. They neither fish in their water nor go to the farm because of oil spillage.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it is true that the NDDC was supposed to provide most of the basics; unfortunately, the reverse is the case because of corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose appointed to manage the Commission ended up looting it dry. None is in jail because in the very first place it was a political settlement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince someone fainted during the National Assembly probe of the Commission, we have not heard anything again on the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is shameful it happened at a time our \u2018incorruptible\u2019 president holds sway. All we are saying is that Charity begins at home! This is not the time for profligacy and licentious spending; the government must manage our lean purse prudently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must set our priorities right because Nigeria is becoming a laughing stock to the whole world. Tinkering with such ideas at a time the electricity tariff has been increased and fuel price hiked is indeed suicidal.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria should stop playing big brother at the expense of Nigerians. This government is not being fair to Nigerians. Simple.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Trade Union Congress, TUC, Thursday, took a swipe at the Federal Government over the recent approval of $1.96 billion for the construction of a rail line from Kano-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic. TUC, in a statement by its President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi, in Abuja, said construction of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":26843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-26852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/journalist101.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/NLC-TUC-Organised-Labour.jpg?fit=320%2C209&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4LVjE-6Z6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26853,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26852\/revisions\/26853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalist101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}