Poverty Fueling Insecurity In Nigeria – PENGASSAN

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has warned that efforts to tackle insecurity in the country may continue to face serious challenges unless governments at all levels urgently address rising poverty and improve the living conditions of Nigerians.

The association also called for the repositioning of local governments to make them more responsive to the needs of people at the grassroots.

The President of PENGASSAN, Festus Osifo, stated this at a social gathering organised to honour former leaders of the association for their contributions to its growth and development since its establishment in 1978, Naija News reports.

The event was attended by former presidents, deputy presidents, general secretaries, zonal chairmen, zonal secretaries and other national officers of the association.

Osifo said the economic hardship in the country was affecting not only workers but also their relatives, neighbours and communities.

He explained that workers who earned relatively good salaries were increasingly struggling because of the financial responsibilities placed on them by unemployed relatives and other people facing economic difficulties.

According to him, “a worker may have a good income but could quickly find such earnings depleted by the responsibility of supporting unemployed relatives and other people around them who are struggling financially.”

The PENGASSAN president said the situation showed that economic hardship had consequences far beyond organised labour.

He stressed that although the primary responsibility of the association was to protect the jobs, remuneration and welfare of its members, it could not ignore the wider economic challenges facing Nigerians.

FG, States, LGs Must Act

Osifo said governments must become more responsive to the needs of citizens and recognise that fighting poverty was a shared responsibility.

He said the Federal Government, state governments and local governments all had important roles to play in reducing hardship and improving the quality of life of Nigerians.

According to him, tackling poverty required political will and practical measures rather than promises.

He urged the different levels of government to work together to address the economic difficulties confronting citizens.

The labour leader expressed particular concern about the state of local government administration in the country.

He described local governments as “the level of government closest to the people”, saying they should provide citizens with a platform to demand accountability and solutions to problems affecting their communities.

However, Osifo lamented that many local governments had become largely ineffective, leaving citizens without an efficient grassroots system through which they could demand action on basic needs.

He argued that the weakness of local government administration had contributed to the persistence of poverty and other social problems.

Osifo therefore called for a fundamental review of governance at the grassroots to make local governments more effective and accountable to the people.

‘Insecurity Difficult To Tackle Amid Poverty’

The PENGASSAN president warned that the government would find it difficult to significantly reduce insecurity if widespread poverty continued.

He called on governments across the country to demonstrate the political will required to implement policies capable of reducing poverty and improving the standard of living.

Osifo said addressing economic hardship should be treated as an important part of the broader strategy to tackle insecurity.

He stressed that citizens who had access to decent livelihoods and basic necessities would be less vulnerable to social pressures that could contribute to insecurity.

Speaking on the purpose of the gathering, Osifo said the dinner was organised to recognise the sacrifices and contributions of former leaders of the association.

He said the former officials had played important roles in building PENGASSAN since its establishment in 1978 and that their contributions should not be forgotten.

According to him, former leaders had also continued to contribute to the development of the association by offering advice to the current leadership whenever they identified areas requiring attention or improvement.

Osifo described the awards presented to the former officials as tokens of appreciation for their sacrifices and contributions to the growth of the association.

He said successive administrations had continued to build on the foundation laid by the former leaders.

The PENGASSAN president said the gathering was therefore an opportunity to celebrate the association’s past leaders while recognising their continued role in guiding its present leadership.