The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said President Bola Tinubu must keep his promise during the last negotiation on minimum wage that fuel prices will not be increased.
The NLC Head of Information Department, Benson Upah, said the organized labour knew that ₦70,000 minimum wage was not ideal, but they wanted to avoid fuel price rising to ₦2,000 per litre.
“We knew ₦70,000 was not ideal for the average Nigerian, but we had to make a deal, expecting President Tinubu to keep his word,” Upah said.
In an interview, on Wednesday, with Arise TV, NLC advised Nigerians to give labour time to process decisions that would come from its different organs.
He said, “Well, we have not said we are going on strike. I would want you to read our statement carefully. We said the appropriate organs of the Congress will need to take appropriate decisions, and those decisions will be made public. So I would want you to be patient to see whether a strike will be one of them.
“But let’s assume that a strike is an option. Our strike is the least harmful, as effective as a strike can be. Our strikes are essentially to wake the government up and point in the right direction. When other Nigerians strike, the difference is always clear. You remember Endsars? You remember the last strike? I mean, the end hunger protests. You remember that?
“But I tell you this, what we are sensitizing government to is the possible consequences of a people outrage, the outrage of Nigerians, because they have had it up to neck. And government must realize this fact. You see, it is wanting to talk about extreme right-wing market policies. It is another thing to implement them and diligently too.”
Benson Upah explained that President Tinubu chose an extreme right-wing market policy approach, but failed to adopt social security measures that go along with extreme right-wing market approach.
He decried that Nigerians pay for everything that government should provide and the government has shown no interest in living up to its social welfare responsibility.
“For the entities that implement extreme right-market policies, the way Mr. President is doing, they carry something on the left hand. They mitigate the harsh effects of those right-wing policies. You have social protection policies dealing with job losses, dealing with health insurance, dealing with energy, dealing with particularly other aspects of life. And this manages resentment, dissolution and uprising.
“But here we have a country where you do not have anything called social protection. Everybody is on their own. Even right-wing issue providing light and security, you are on your own. And government is carrying on as if it does not owe us an obligation. It is deceiving itself,” Upah added.
[NaijaNews]