The Director-General of Michael Imodu National Institute for Labour Studies, Comrade Issa Aremu has charged Nigerians to rededicate themselves to nation building through the new National Development Plan launched by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Comrade Issa Aremu gave this admonition in a mass cycling exercise, themed: “Celebrating life in a pandemic “, to commemorate his 61st birthday.
Aremu, who has been a notable trade unionist who rose through the ranks in the trade union hierarchy in Nigeria said there is need to build consensus around the new plan.
According to him, “I am using this medium to call on all of us to rededicate ourselves to nation building and we can rally around the new national development plan which this administration has just launched, with suppose to last from 2021 to 2025. I think we can have consensus around this plan to build Nigeria. Conflict are inevitable, we should disagree but we should not be disagreeable. You can disagree yourselves on issues but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be together.
“Let us rally around the new national development plan and there is a lot for all of us to be united, regardless of parties, regardless of where we come from. Nigeria to create more 30 million jobs, take 100 million out of poverty in the next ten years. It also talks of growth rate for 4.6% every year.
“I think we can have consensus on how we are going to build more railway lines, how we are going to build more roads, how we are going to bring back our health sector and our education. What I am saying here is that we can agree and disagree but let this disagreement be on issues of development.
The Director-General specifically dedicate his birthday celebration to the Late Desmond Tutu for his good work, while charging Nigerians to bequeath his legacies.
“I want to dedicate my celebration this year to one of the best to come from Africa, first black archbishop of Anglican Church of South Africa, a strong fighter for Justice and Peace, an anti apartheid crusader, Late Desmond Tutu, who lives for 90 years. He was born in 1921 and died in 2021. We need to learn from the late Desmond Tutu, that Africa will not move forward unless we put an end to bitterness, acrimony and avoidable wars” he said.
“I am 61 years old now and I was born here in a state that was fast developing. We are a first generation state. We should be competing with Lagos, Kano, Rivers. A lot has bee done but we need to do more. We need to close ranks, we need to forgive ourselves so that we can be able to build a better Nigeria” he said.
He added that the institute will popularise the new development plan among its workforce by promoting education through capacity building exercise.
“As the DG of the institute, we are going to use our platform to promote education for Nigeria workers. We are going to build capacity for them. As a matter of fact, we will popularise this new development plan among the workforce so that organised labour will know how to engage the government. It is about 400 trillion development plan. That is quite ambitious.
“We must also know the target because they are talking of creating 21 million full term jobs. Labour should make sure that every year should be the benchmark of how many job created. So if between now and 2025, we a promising about 21 million full term job. I think the only way we can create sustainable jobs should come from industries.
He further thanked PMB for appointing him as the fifth Director General of the Institute and the first to come from Trade Union Movement.
