…decries Naira weakness
By Adeyinka Adeniran
The National President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Com. Festus Osifo has said the labour leaders are taking serious the ongoing negotiations on minimum wage with the Federal Government because it wants what he described as living wage as against the cry for minimum wage.
He reasoned that minimum should be negotiated every two years and adjusted to cater for current inflation, failure of which he said had made things gone terrible for the workers.
He spoke on Thursday in Ibadan at the Southwest Labour Summit of the Congress, themed: “Repositioning the Labour Movement Amidst Economic Decline in Nigeria”.
Osifo who noted that Nigeria is blessed with enormous mineral resources with some yet untapped lamented that most of the money realised from some of these resources are spent frivolously.
He decried the weakness of the Nigerian currency, Naira amidst current economic challenges in the nation and called on the government to ensure that Naira value don’t diminish again.
Osifo said “What Nigerian workers want is not just minimum wage but a living wage. Minimum wage should be negotiated every two years and adjusted for inflation.
“We called ourselves giant of Africa, yet, we can’t pay reasonable minimum wage, we are tired of government telling us to continue coping.”
Noting that Nigerian workers are facing a lot of financial challenges, the Union tasked the government to ensure nation’s economy is well managed so that the Naira can have more value and compete with other currency across the world.
In his remark, the deputy governor of Oyo State, Bayo Lawal appealed to TUC to thread softly on issue of minimum wages, saying current economic hardship is not only limited to Nigeria but universal.
He said Oyo state as part of its love for workers and pensioners paid workers and pensioner 25th of every months since inception of governor Seyi Makinde’s administration.
He said welfare of workers in the state remain paramount to the progress and development of the state.
Earlier in his welcome address, the TUC Chairman in the state, Com. Bosun Olabiyi said the discussion is appropriate particularly at this time the nation is embroidered with economic hardship.
