N18, 000 minimum wage no longer realistic – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Thursday asked the Federal Government to urgently come up with measures to shore up the naira and restore the purchasing power of workers.

The Congress made the demand in Abuja at the end of its National Administrative Council meeting presided over by the newly-elected National President, Ayuba Wabba.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the Council expressed concern over the impact of the devaluation of the national currency, which it said had drastically eroded the purchasing power of workers and rendered the N18,000 minimum wage unrealistic.

The session examined the state of the economy and its impact on Nigerian workers, saying it was pained by the heavy burden it has saddled on the workers.

The communique was signed by Mr. Wabba and the General Secretary, Peter Ozo-Eson.

Members also condemned the rate at which state governments were owing the salary of workers, sometimes in excess of eight months.

It resolved to constitute a special task force to intervene by liaising with the affected states to ensure that the situation was redressed.

While saluting the courage of the Ebonyi State Council of the Congress, who are currently on strike to press home the payment of their backlog of salaries, the Council commended other State Councils facing similar challenges for their resilience and steadfastness.

The Council acknowledged with relief, the vigour and momentum garnered in recent times by the Nigerian armed forces in the fight against insurgency.

It called on the Federal Government to encourage the troops to sustain the momentum by giving them all they require to ensure a complete routing of the insurgents.

On recent spate of protests calling for the removal of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, the Council said Nigerians consider the current elections time table as sacrosanct.

The government, it said, must ensure that any act capable of threatening the sanctity of the election dates is not tolerated.
On the crisis that followed last Saturday’s election of the new executive, the Council said a reconciliatory committee has been constituted to woo back the aggrieved members who lost during the Delegates Conference.

Source: Premium times