By Funmi Komolafe

Barely 48 hours after some governors and the minister of finance publicly disagreed on the state of the economy, the Human Capital Providers Association of Nigeria , HuCaPan, has called on the Federal Government to take more concrete steps to improve the economy  for the benefit of the people.

The President of HuCaPan, Mr. Oritseneye  Enemigin, who made the call while speaking at the   organisation’s  3rd Annual General Meetin, in Lagos,  yesterday, also suggested that the national  minimum wage should remain on the exclusive list in the constitution.

Mr. Enemigin  said:  “  about 98 per cent of countries world-wide, have the national  minimum wage on the exclusive list,” and wondered how the Senate expected a company with workers all over the nation to determine  its wage structure.

For the economy, he said: “ As a nation, we should fare better than what we are doing at the moment.”

Mr. Enemigin, whose association  is affiliated to the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association and works closely with the Ministry of  Labour and Productivity, said: “ Development should have clear indices” which should include, “the number of new jobs created,  how many new businesses are created, how many hours of   uninterrupted power supply do we have  in the homes and  business organizations.”

He  observed that “ 2013 is also shaping out as another challenging year with several issues,   especially   business closures and government policies affecting business, among others,”

Specifically, he said, “ the rate of unemployment is alarming as the consequences can only be imagined.”

The HuCaPan President, therefore , called on the government to “create a sustainable and enabling   environment  for businesses to  thrive, provide jobs, create wealth and contribute  to national development.”

He, however, commended the Federal Government for creating the Sovereign Wealth Account.“

Mr. Enemigin also noted that “the modest gain recorded in the electricity megawatt generated as at December, 2012 was  eroded to 3,413 megawatt in April, 2013, due to what the power ministry  ascribed  to ‘general system collapse’.