Good GDP without jobs, time bomb – NLC

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has warned that improved Gross Domestic Product (GDP) without commensurate jobs creation and improvement of living standards is a time bomb.

In a statement signed yesterday by the Acting President Promise Adewusi, the union said living conditions have been “pathetic” while “the unemployment figures are frightening.” Following the rebasing of the country’s GDP by the National Bureau of Statistics and other international agencies, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala on Sunday announced that the country’s GDP in 2013 at 89.22 is the largest in Africa, a position previously occupied by South Africa.

But NLC said “Government should worry that the performance index of industries dropped from 46.08% to 25.81% while service industry more than doubled to 50 % from 23.03%. This certainly represents a significant change in the economy, a negative change that points to consumption to the exclusion of production.”