EPILECTIC POWER SUPPLY| Mass Unemployment Looms – SSANU

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU has declared that Nigeria will soon witness mass unemployment as the epileptic power supply hampers the operations of industries.

National President of the association, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, sounded this alarm at the SSANU 2015 National Delegate Conference holding at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Enugu State. He revealed that many industries have started laying off workers, a move he said would have adverse
effects on the the country.

“The nation’s economy would be better when we have the right people at the right places. We looked at the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and we’ve seen the effect”.

“What some of us thought was that they would have made a trial elsewhere with one or two ministries to see how it would go before applying it at the national level.”

The SSANU President further stated that the perennial fuel scarcity in the country, noting that as a country that produces oil, there was no reason for the people of Nigeria to witness such scarcity.

His words, “Up till now, we are still having fuel scarcity because the government had not done what it is supposed to do. We are talking about anti-corruption; we have not seen anything there”.

“That one or two people have been prosecuted is not enough to say we are fighting corruption. There is still oil bunkering, people are stealing the crude oil; a country that produces oil does not have oil. I bought fuel at almost N200 in Nigeria, and we are talking about economy”.

“Industries will sack their workers sooner or later because there is no power; the power level is still low”.

“An economy that is generator-based cannot guarantee companies to produce at 100 percent, and it is the workers who are suffering”.

“So if a businessman cannot make profit, he will reduce workers and these people will come back to be unemployed, increasing the poverty level in the country. So government must look at the economy; we must go agro-base. We are blessed with arable land, including 6 to 10 months rain”.

“So, why can’t we feed ourselves and other African countries? Even as we produce quality graduates, we can export them for money, and the economy will be boosted; and a situation where Chinese vulcanizers will come to Nigeria and be called engineers is not acceptable,” he said.