(http://fmi.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/TUC_Logo.jpg) Comrade Peter Esele, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has described the dismal state of the nation's infrastructure as unacceptable and drawback to economic growth.
Esele who is also a member of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), made the observation recently during the committee's inspection of some federal roads in the South West and the Federal Ministry of Works Central Workshop, Ijora, Lagos.
TUC President who led the sub-committee on roads and vocational training said their inspection was to ascertain the level of utilization of SURE-P intervention funds and identify other areas that require attention.
He said that the Central Workshop Ijora requires urgent attention for the nation to realize set goals towards roads maintenance and creation of employment. "I feel very depressed seeing all these, I don't think any private firm would allow this to go; you know when it affects workers they say privatization is the best thing to do, but when it affects government, they do nothing about it," he said.
"We are looking at the challenges, everything that is required to maintain our infrastructural needs are here, but they are all down and abandoned. There was a time when more than 3000 people worked here; right now, you have less than 30 people working here. You can imagine if you train people, they will not work for government alone but can also take care of themselves", he said.
Esele also pledged SURE-P's commitment in resuscitating the central workshop as part of efforts in building sustainable capacity in maintaining national infrastructure.
According to him, "This facility can take care of everything that is required for maintenance but because they run out of ideas, we forgot the core thing that is important after building."
He said that SURE-P would re-equip the central workshop and create an enabling environment for the technical training of Nigerian youths.
The TUC boss also urged the organized private sector to collaborate with the Federal Government in resuscitating one of the nation's legacy skill training hubs.
He said that the workshop has the potential to be self-sustaining if government and OPS collaborate in revamping the workshop.
Via: Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria