Senator-elect representing Kaduna Central, Mr Shehu Sani, has taken to task President Goodluck Jonathan on the sale of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the last-minute sale of the Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL).

Sani also carpeted the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on her economic policy while also describing the current impasse in the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as a disgrace to Nigerian workers.

Mr Sani, while receiving state executives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on a congratulatory visit in his office on Saturday in Kaduna, said the privatisation exercise under President Goodluck Jonathan is a monumental theft Nigeria’s collective resources in the interest of a few.

“The sale of PHCN has not translated into consistent electric power in our homes, in our offices, in our markets and in our work place,” he said, adding that the issue of privatisation has also seriously affecting many workers who have been employed in those institutions for decades.

Mr Sani also stated that “the last minute sale of NITEL to a private firm at a time when the government is supposed to be preparing notes for hand over is also suspicious or irrelevant at this time.”

The Senator-elect also said that the Minister of Finance Mrs Okonjo Iweala has damaged Nigeria’s economy by her policies that have not impacted positively in the lives Nigerian people.

“They claim progressive economic statistics on paper while our people continue to suffer in abject poverty, want and penury.

“All the economic indicators that have been churned out by the Jonathan administration is in direct conflict with reality of the situation on ground as far as Nigeria is concern.

“Most of our industries have closed down, the value of our naira has crashed and many people are out of job and the claim of thousands of jobs created by the government is suspect and simply on paper. This is also an issue we have to look at in the incoming administration.”

Sani described the government of President Jonathan as “literally a political restaurant whereby people are invited to come and feed. That is why President Jonathan is saying that those who decamped from PDP to APC will come back with empty stomach,” he said.

According to him, “The idea of governance under Jonathan is about people using the opportunity of being in office to service themselves and their immediate families.

“The bickering in the PDP after the failed elections are simply nothing but pant of death of a party that has inflicted serious hardship to Nigerians in the last 16 years.”

On the NLC crisis, Mr Sani described the congress as a disgrace to workers, to Nigerian people and to the country at large.

He said it is unfortunate that after decade of labour movement in Nigeria that we are having a labour movement that is divided against itself.

“NLC as it exist at this time here cannot fight the interest of Nigerian workers as long as it remains divided,” Sani said, adding that if the movement is about the interest of the workers then there should not have been any need for division.

He called on the need for the incoming government of Gen Muhammadu Buhari to reconcile the factions within the NLC for the collective interest of Nigeria and the Nigerian workers because according to him, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

He also told the visiting executives of the NURTW that as a very important sector of the economy, they have a role to play to mobilize, sensitise people for the success of the incoming administration.

He called for the need of a bill to protect local automobile company so that Nigerians will better patronise made in Nigerian cars, adding that, this will provide jobs and boost Nigeria’s economic activities.

State chairman of the NURTW, Comrade Alhassan Haruna (‘313’), appealled to government to come to the aid of their over 60,000 member towards improving on their transport business and Nigeria economy.

•Photo shows Sani

Update news