Fides Media Living the Faith
By Mmaduabuchi Onwumelu
Members of Anambra State House of Assembly, have passed a resolution appealing to captains of industry and private establishments in Anambra State to emulate the palliative measures of Governor Chukwuma Soludo and effect same in the private sector to cushion the effects of economic hardship on the work force.
The House of Assembly passed the resolution following a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the Majority Leader, Chief Ikenna Ofodeme, during plenary.
Chief Ofodeme observed that the continuous rise in the cost of living in Nigeria had reduced the purchasing power of an average worker in the state and that most workers in the private sector could hardly meet their basic needs in the face of the current economic challenges without palliative measures to cushion the effect.
He lamented that the situation had compelled many workers in the state to resort to various ethical and unethical means to survive while giving room to corporate begging at the work place.
For his part, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Chukwuma Okoye, said that a consequential palliative measure would enable the private sector workers in Anambra State to adjust to the prevailing economic situation, thereby improving productivity.
In their separate speeches, the member representing Nnewi South One Constituency, Honourable Nonso Atuchukwu, and the member representing Njikoka Constituency Two, Honourable Jude Akpua, noted that the precarious economic situation of Nigeria demanded that business owners should show empathy to their workers and make working conditions favourable to them to alleviate their sufferings.
The Speaker of the House, Right Honourable Somtochukwu Udeze, called on captains of industry to show love to the less privileged around them by enrolling them into the Anambra State Health Insurance Scheme to give them access to quality medicare as most of them that were sick could not afford to treat themselves.