Economy Today : Of Worker's Right In Nigeria & Lessons To Learn From Ghanaian's Fast Growing Economy
" A Nation that cares less of the future well being of her youths and social standard / welfare of her public service workers ,is a Nation lost in advancement "- Nelson R. Mandela
Lessons To Learn From Ghanaian's Fast Growing Economy
By Dr. YF Bala-Tonglele PhD.
Without any sentiments, as a business economist and an industrialist. I can authoritatively State that
UNIONS DESTROY the economy of a nation.
Indeed I can categorically say with facts that trade unions accounts for 50 % of the decline of the Nigerian economy. The other 50% Is CURRENCY DEVALUATIONS. over the last 33 years from the Doomed STRACTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMME (SAP) of 1986: to excessive UNIONS demand for extra wage packages, an economic disaster of monumental proportions and one which defies all reasonings took Centre stage in our social life.
During that period I was conducting my PhD research in the country.
Moving between Universities of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello and the Central zone university of Jos. Each of the Heads of Departments of these universities were all against the SAP programme. And I wondered as I still do now, who were the economists that charted out that course for us to follow?? I spent two weeks at the central Bank (CBN HQs) in Lagos at the time. They were not short of materials supporting this bogus economic policy. I knew then that Nigeria was on a downward slide of economic decline.
33 years on and the evidence is here for all to see. Yet we continue to compound this error by empowering trade unions and social interest groups to take control of a growing economy.
No developing nation takes such myopic economic decisions and survive. Why did our economist turned a blind eye or simply abandoned their expertise and join the doom train??
DEMAND FOR HIGHER WAGES MAKES IT EXTREMELY Difficult for companies and governments to invest properly in long term development of industries corporations and parastatals which, constitute the engine growth of an economy. A developing economy must not allow unions and trade associations to dictate it’s economic policies. To do so is economic myopicism, a recipe for continuous economic underdevelopment
The Powerful and disruptive Academic Association of Nigerian Universities—. ASSUU or whatever you call them are some of the cases in point in Nigeria. They have been responsible for destroying Nigerian university education and the Nigerian brain drain to other countries. An institution that should be outlawed completely if Nigeria is to lead Africa in educational research and economic leadership.
Equally the demand for minimum wage over the years from the unions have destroyed over 10m jobs in Nigeria, and “killed” over 5000 small scale industries, thereby creating an import economy.
Industrialists find it cheaper to import ready made goods produced from non union states like China and south East Asia than struggle to pay high wages and end up with less profits.
Our economists are mostly either cowards or they belong to one union or another and as such do not have the legitimacy to advise governments on the right policy decisions. It seems that most professionals in government no longer see anything wrong with our Economy and are happy to support unions’s activities as part of a development policy.
It is my economic advice that all union activities in Nigeria should be outlawed
and all strike actions made illegal. The Naira should be revalued upward and made at pa with the US Dollars.
Indeed Ghana did it and pulled back their economy from total collapse. Today the Ghanaian economy is one of the fastest growing economy in Africa
*HRH. Dr YF Bala-Tonglele PhD, Is a Business Economist and An Authority on Nigerian Economy.He is also The Official Crown Prince of Plateau State.
~ Dr. YF Bala-Tonglele PhD can be reached on Tel:
09069250528
Email: btonglele@gmail.com
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