OSHIOMHOLE FAULTS FG'S FISCAL POLICIES

By SIMON EBEGBULEM
GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has faulted the incompetent fiscal policies of the Federal Government, regretting that the policies failed to protect local industries and also send conflicting signals to manufacturers.

Mr Oshiomhole stated this, yesterday, at a colloquium in Abuja, organised by the Action congress of Nigeria, ACN,  to flag off its presidential campaign.

In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Peter Okhiria, he said that 'in the morning, you prohibit the importation of item X and in the afternoon you legalize the importation. By the following day, you have changed the policy again. So it is difficult for those doing business to formulate long-term policies on the basis of the policies that government turns out every day.'

I think the challenge for the now and the foreseeable future is that we must put in place well_thought_out policies that would put Nigeria back to work. We must reclaim those industries that have been shut down.'

Oshiomhole said 'labour is interested in the whole question of how government emerged. From the point of view of organized labour, democracy is not just  an end, it is both a means as well as an end. What we do matters, but how we do it is even more important. In other words, in the point of view of organized labour, the end does not necessarily justify the means; the means is as important as the end. For example we are not interested in what you have done, but who asked you to do it. Because in a democracy the people should  not just be  spectators, they should be the drivers'

The governor who noted that job creation is key, lamented that 'when we report on the performance of the economy, we are criminally silent on job creation', noting that when people have jobs with decent pay, they will not only look after themselves but after their families.

According  to him, while government acknowledge the need to create jobs, yet, 'government  after government  is closing  down factories', stressing that  over fifty thousand  jobs have been lost in the textile factories in Lagos alone and another twenty five thousand  direct employments lost in the textile factories in Kano.