NLC Requests That FG Approve Salaries That Reflect The Rising Cost Of Living
The government has been pushed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to set a new minimum wage that reflects the cost of living in the nation.
NLC President Comrade Joe Ajaero urged the federal government to allow salaries and wages to be commensurate with the cost of living while insisting on a living wage for Nigerian workers during his speech at the 11th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria in Abuja.
This comes after the country's acting national president of the Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWU), Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, warned that chaos would soon break out if the current situation wasn't resolved right away.
Recall that at Thursday's North Central public hearing, the NLC proposed N709,000 as the new national minimum wage. The new national minimum wage of N447,000 was proposed by the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
This year's April will mark the expiration of the current N30,000 minimum wage, which was established by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Ajaero lamented that workers had become beggars as a result of the nation's economic crisis.
He said, “Food has become so scarce that Nigerians have become scavengers, resorting to raiding food trucks and warehouses for food. If those in government cannot see the danger in what is happening, we must ensure that the government fulfils its duties to the people.
“We are increasingly going hungry in our father's land and cannot continue in this destitution. The greatest unifier and mobilizer of a people is hunger, so it is common for those in government to assume that somebody is sponsoring people who are protesting because of hunger.
“If anybody is arousing the people, it is those in government whose policies have impoverished the people and stripped them of those values that make them human beings.
“The looting of food trucks and warehouses is what you get when this happens. Unless something is done, this may unfortunately escalate.
“We pray it does not. Those who therefore think that they can stop us from this divine mission with their threats and violence should think twice.
“We cannot be cowed. We cannot surrender our natural mandate to the powers and agents of poverty and emasculation.
“We are not after anybody's job, but we must insist that the instruments of governance must be used for the greater good of the people and not to wreck their lives.
“We must insist that any political calculation that does not put the lives of Nigerians first fails abysmally and is totally unacceptable.
“The people of Nigeria must survive first so that Nigeria can survive before we begin to talk about 2027.
“We must all work together to build power, which we can use for successful engagement with those who are in charge of power in our dear nation. Nigerians look up to us, and we must not fail them. We are in the NLC, which includes your AG.
“President and Deputy President of Congress, Comrade Ado Sani Minjibir, will always court and cherish your support to build the necessary structures that will make the NLC stronger to challenge the vicissitudes of the nation's current socioeconomic realities.”
According to the Minister of Labour and Employment, the government is committed to providing affordable healthcare to Nigerians.
The Director of Trade Union Services and Industrial Relations, Yusuf Mohammed, represented Onyejeocha, who added that the government was committed to enhancing benefits for healthcare professionals.
The removal of gasoline subsidies, according to Kabiru Minjibir, Acting National President of the Medical and Health Workers Union, “unleashed hardship on Nigerians.” According to Minjibir, “anarchy may be looming if nothing practical is urgently done.”
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