The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said that it is in support of the Federal Government increasing the minimum wage of workers in the country, News About Nigeria reports.
The president of the union, Festus Osifo, made this known while speaking in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday.
He noted that increasing the minimum wage for civil servants will not affect the government or worsen inflation in the country.
He maintained that the increase is needed and justified because the revenue allocation to states has increased since May 2023, which has in turn provided more money for the Federal Government to carry out more projects.
“If you look today, from May 2023 to date, revenue from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to the state governments has tripled,” he said.
“This means the state government has more money to build roads and schools and to purchase other items.
“The most critical aspect of production is labour. It is for you to take part of the money and pay workers. That won’t increase inflation because the money will be spent anyway; if you don’t give it to workers, it will be spent on other projects,” he stated.
He stressed that it is important for the government to give to workers what is due them, adding that it won’t in any way worsen the inflation being experienced now.
Recall that the federal government had earlier approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent in salary for civil servants on the six consolidated salary structures.
