By Eberechi Obinagwam
Vice President of the Industrial Global Union (IGU), Comrade Issa Aremu, has said that labour remains the most critical factor in the economic development of any society.
Aremu who made the declaration at a workshop organised by the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria, (LAWAN) in Ibadan, on Media as a Change Agent in Industrial and Labour Relations, argued that despite the inventions of Artificial Intelligence, Computers, IPad, internet, labour remains a critical success factor of sustainable development. This, he said, is because the factor is in population which is associated with labour.
He stated that with 200 million people in Nigeria, labour is ever unbeatable hence the Nigeria Labour Congress motto, “Labour Creates Wealth.”
He further stated that any organisation or country that ignores constant motivation of human resources through constant capacity building risks unnecessary work-place conflicts and low productivity because development should be seen beyond infrastructure and macro-economic factors such as growth rate or GDP.
On the issue of industrial relations, he noted that the subject of industrial relations in Nigeria must be located within the framework of the national political economy.
Also, Executive Director, International Press Center, Lanre Arogundade in his lecture on media as agent of change, said the relations between Labour, industrial sector and media is becoming more and more important particularly to ensure the smooth reach of wider public at large.
He explained that regardless of the form, the media will maintain the role of trusted news provider in the future.
He urged the media to be guided on what and how they report because their report can actually change the perspective in the society.
