TheCable

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has asked the federal government to begin the importation of food in two weeks to mitigate the rising economic hardship across the country.

The country has been experiencing a rise in the prices of commodities since the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023.

The rising cost of living and economic hardship have led to protests in parts of the country.

On February 16, NLC declared a two-day nationwide protest over the economic hardship in the country.

The protest is billed to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Monday, Festus Osifo, TUC president, said the union’s leadership has been closely monitoring the increasing rates of hunger and hardship faced by Nigerian workers and the populace.

Osifo said the congress has identified uncontrolled naira devaluation and insecurity across the country as the two major causes of the current economic challenges.

He said the country’s monetary policy managers should determine the true value of naira while the government should work towards achieving a realistic rate of N580 to N650 per dollar.

The TUC president said “concerted efforts” should be made to curb insecurity across the country so that farmers could return to farm.

“Several literatures are abound on what government across the three tiers could do to address this. The recent thought of state and community policing is long overdue and deliberate efforts must be made to conclude the necessary constitutional amendment to enable its take off in earnest,” Osifo said.

“The quest for survival is real today than ever before; Nigerians must live to see tomorrow before we could understand how beautiful a government policy is. The national pride of striving to achieving food sufficiency locally and not importing from abroad should be temporarily relaxed.

“Government at all levels should immediately source and purchase sufficient quantities of food items from different part of the world and distribute to the vulnerable Nigerians.

“Importing food from abroad at this point will assist in reducing the hyperinflation on food that is currently been experienced locally. For example, the price of rice is above the roof today because government at all levels are chasing rice producers to buy the available rice.

“Thus with high demand and reduced or constant supply; prices will definitely soar. TUC hereby demand that government should as a matter of urgency commence importation and allow importation of essential food items into the country within the next two weeks.

“State government must immediately choose at least six different food crops to cultivate. Similarly, each local government must identify three food crops to cultivate. Now that we are approaching raining season, this must be done immediately in other to boost food production in the next few months.”