The Labour Party has urged the Federal Government to seriously consider the minimum wage request of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), News About Nigeria reports.
The Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mrs. Olubunmi Odesanya, made this plea while speaking in an interview on Wednesday in Lagos.
She noted that the federal government must not pay the demand of N494,000 by Congress, but they should seriously look into it and see what can be done.
She appealed to both the federal government and the Labour Congress to meet at a midpoint and do what is best for Nigerian workers, adding that workers deserve more than they are getting currently because of the country’s inflation rate, which is over 33.3 percent.
“Basically, the requests of the workers should be addressed.
“We are not saying the Federal Government should pay N494,000 as the minimum wage, but they should seriously look at their request.
“Both the government and the labour union should come to a midpoint to reflect today’s realities.
“Nigerian workers deserve more than they are getting currently because of the country’s inflation rate, which is over 33.3 percent,” she stated.
She also mentioned that the cost of living for workers and Nigerians generally has increased so much that many are struggling to survive under the current economic crisis.
She maintained that governments across levels must do more to reduce the cost of governance to get more funds to alleviate the suffering of the people.
“A paltry minimum wage of N30,000 for Nigerian workers, or should we say the N60,000 being proposed, is far far too low to survive in this country.
“A bag of rice is about N80,000 now. Nigerians cannot even touch pepper and tomatoes now,” she lamented.
She, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government to expedite actions to address the request of Nigerian workers within the seven-day window for renegotiation of the new minimum wage.
