This Is Not Nigeria Of Our Dream - Labour

As Nigeria celebrates its 51 years of independence today, labour leaders have expressed regret at the stunted growth of the country, declaring that, “this is not Nigeria of our dream.”
At independence in 1960, they said the expectations were very high because of Nigeria’s enormous  human, materials and natural resources, but regretted that the inept political class has destroyed those dreams and made the country one of the poorest nations in the world.
However, President Goodluck Jonathan is confident that the nation will overcome the numerous challenges it is facing currently, calling Nigerians to work together to create a country where the rule of law is sacrosanct in order to banish corruption and attendant vices.
In his address to the nation on the occasion of the 51st Independence Anniversary, he observed that Nigerians were resilient, as their spirit could not be broken and were determined to chart a course through the turbulent waters of nation building.
“Together, we shall work for a Nigeria in which democracy and the rule of law are sacrosanct, a country where corruption and its attendant vices, are banished. A country where human life is sacred and respected, and where the rights of the individuals are protected,” he said.
The President noted that the journey to nationhood has always had its own challenges, saying that “Nigeria has had her own share. Our growing pains as a nation have included the civil war, the June 12 election crisis and restlessness in the Niger Delta. But Nigeria has always overcome each of these challenges. We overcame before. We will overcome yet again.”
But labour declared that there was nothing definite to celebrate, as the Nigerian workers and the people generally had been subjected to untoward hardship.
“The pervasive harsh economic Nigerians are being punished with cannot suggest any celebration,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Deputy President, Comrade Promise Adewusi, told Saturday Tribune.
He said the last 51 years had been a period of deficit and ineffective political leadership, adding that for workers and the Nigerian people, living had become a sin induced by poverty occasioned by inept political leadership.
The NLC deputy president described the N18, 000 national minimum wage as a mere starvation wage, which had become an albatross to fraudulent political leadership who siphoned away the nation’s wealth.