Noting that the public institutions must include the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), they argued that the naira redesign and protracted petrol crisis was a fallout of poor democratic values.
Director-General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Issa Aremu, said that the country was doing well in terms of democracy, but needed quality control.
Aremu, said this at a one-day workshop, organised by Labour Writers’ Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), with the theme ‘Beyond Voting: Roles of Citizens in Ensuring a Free, Fair and Transparent 2023 Election.’
He said deepening democracy goes beyond having the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) or casting votes during elections, but having public authorities who are accountable to Nigerians.
Noting that it was time to deepen democratic oversight of CBN despite its Act that says it is independent, he added that reforms should be spaced out, participatory, and humanistic and should be for nation-building.
“It means if the CBN governor is elected, if we conduct a referendum on his performance, can he be retained as a governor? If he is not elected, can he carry out far-reaching policies with damaged consequences in lives and livelihoods with the currency redesigning without dare consequence?
“In democratising and improving oversight of CBN, we are also helping CBN from itself, because the whole autonomy of the CBN has been undermined by the CBN itself and that is not healthy for us.
“Rather than agonising, Nigerians should organise to see how we can avoid policy disaster,” he said.
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, who was represented by the Chairman, NLC, Lagos Council, Funmi Sessi, said the NLC had refrained from adding to the situation that Nigerians were passing through in recent times.
He urged Nigerians to keep faith with their PVCs to achieve free, fair and credible elections.
According to him, “NLC has refrained from adding to the situation that Nigerians are passing through currently because we do not want government, individuals or group of people to blame the doorstep of NLC. We know that these are hard times for Nigerians, but it is just a phase; it will pass away.”
Speaking on behalf of FES and Project Manager, ‘Road to 2023: Labour and Media in Elections’, Remi Ihejirika, said that Nigeria could not be truly democratic without its citizens having the opportunity to choose their representatives through elections that were judged to be free and fair.
She said: “That is the essence of this project. How do we ensure that elections are free and fair and that people continue to have confidence in the electoral process?
“This meeting is like an assessment of the preparedness of all stakeholders for the forthcoming elections.
How prepared are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and citizens to participate in the process?”, she said.
LAWAN Chairman, Toba Agboola, said the workshop was to assess the current political and electoral environment in the lead-up to the presidential and governorship elections.
He said it was also to assess preparations and offer recommendations to enhance citizens’ confidence in the process to achieve violence-free elections.
