Skip to main content

Ahead of Workers Day, NLC, TUC Insist on N56,000 Minimum Wage


Ahead of the commemoration of Workers’ Day tomorrow, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday insisted that there was no going back on its demand of N56,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, arguing that the three tiers of government were capable of paying.

NLC Vice President and Chairman of the May Day Committee, Comrade Peters Adeyemi told journalists in Abuja that this year’s theme, “The Working Class and the Quest for Socio-Economic Revival” was in consonance with labour’s zeal to chart the course of pro-poor policies and programmes in the country.

He argued that addressing income equality and ensuring a sustainable living minimum wage remained key to resolving the conflict of inequality and poverty among Nigerians.

He justified labour’s call for N56,000 as the new minimum wage, stating that, “some are asking if there is justification for wage increase in view of the current situation on ground; the answer is yes. The Naira itself has collapsed beyond the expectations of every Nigerian.

“As of this morning, it’s about N321 to the dollar, and they say it’s stable now. If you do the calculation, that’s more than 100% fall. What that means is the N18,000 has gone down from the time it was negotiated. With good conscience, you can’t insist that N18,000 should be the minimum wage.

“The unlawful increase of electricity tariff; If you look at every other thing, you find that there has been tremendous increase in services and commodities. So there is enough justification for minimum wage increment.”

The NLC VP stressed that the prevailing economic hardship and the attendant suffering associated with it, compel the need for a new minimum wage, stating that “when we renegotiated the minimum wage then, the exchange rate was N145 to a dollar.”

Adeyemi said: “With this proposed new minimum wage, life will be better for our workers. At this point in time, we believe that the figure of N56,000 is realistic and it is supposed to be affordable by our employers.”

He  maintained that the excuses given by the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) that the present economic climate was not conducive for such demands  fell short of the mismanagement and prolificacy going on across the state, adding: “as we are talking now, there are governors that are still flying private jets.”

Speaking against insinuations that labour might have jettisoned its planned nationwide strike against government, Adeyemi said: “We have not called off the planned warning strike over the refusal of DISCOs to return to the normal electricity tariff, but both the TUC and NLC are committed to that mandate. So, we have not called it off; it’s something that we are committed to.”

He added: “It is most pertinent to reiterate our calls for the suspension of the implementation of the recent increment in electricity tariff, and for the government to put an end to the endemic fuel scarcity that has resulted in the unwanted long queues at the filling stations, leading to the loss of man hours and bringing untold hardship on the workers and the masses, who are already impoverished by the lack of electricity supply and near collapse of the energy sector.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding Prof. Yemi Osinbajo - Abraham Ogbodo

Abraham Ogbodo I am trying to understand Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Often, he speaks out of character. That is, he talks as if he is Vice President before he is a professor of law, even when I know that the latter comes first. The man wasn’t like this when he was the attorney general of Lagos State and a teacher at the Law Faculty of the University of Lagos. Then, his statements were measured and as a seasoned lawyer, based on facts. But today, Osinbajo is sounding like Adams Oshiomhole, a union leader, who by the grace of God, became governor of Edo State for eight years. The revelations about big thefts in the economy had come more from Adams than even Ibrahim Magu, chairman of the EFCC. It was Adams who said former petroleum minister; Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke alone stole 13 billion British pounds from the national treasury. That is like saying she stole in raw cash almost twice as much as the entire fortune of Alhaj...
1 comment
Read more

Boko Haram’s campaign against education and enlightenment - By Landry Signe

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group originating from Nigeria is frightened by this enlightening power of education. Unsurprisingly, on Monday, February 19, the group, whose name often translates to “Western education is a sin,” stormed a girls’ school in the village of Dapchi in northern Nigeria to abduct students. Of the 907 schoolgirls who were in the school the day of the attack, more than 100 are still missing as of Sunday. Since it became violent about a decade ago, Boko Haram’s actions, through these and other types of bloody attacks, have resulted in horrifying consequences. Human Rights Watch estimates that Boko Haram has left at least 7 million in need of humanitarian assistance, 2.1 million displaced, and 20,000 civilians dead. Local leaders claim the number is significantly higher. Despite such causalities, it took Boko Haram’s massive kidnapping of 276 sch...
Post a Comment
Read more

A ‘debt trap’ awaiting aspiring governors? - Anthony Osae-Brown

In the early pages (11 and 12) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) economic report for the fourth quarter of 2017, there is information hidden between the technical language that may have significant implication for ‘wanna be state governors’ in the country. It is the fact that the current governors are piling up debt that the incoming governors would have to deal with in 2019 when they assume the title of ‘His Excellency.’ For those without a strategy to deal with this, that could signal the beginning of their troubles in that exalted office. The CBN fourth quarter report shows that while the federal government is cutting down its exposure in the domestic debt markets, state governments are fast filling up the space with new debt. The report notes that banking systems credit to the federal government at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 went down 28 percent compared to corresponding period of 2016, when the federal government exposure to the banking sector was up 38.7 percent...
Post a Comment
Read more