By Kadiri Christopher
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| L-r: Comrade Precious Alabi the Vice Chairman of Edo TUC, Comrade Festus Asemota the Chairman of Edo TUC and Comrade Joseph James Wassah the Edo TUC Secretary during the June 2024 National strike |
The organized labour of Nigeria under the aegis of Trade Union Congress, TUC, Edo State Council, has joined the rest of workers in Nigeria to call on the federal Government of Nigeria to review and increase the minimum wage of Federal Government workers.
In an exclusive chat with LEGENDS TV in Benin City the Edo State Capital, Comrade Peter Asemota who is the Edo TUC Chairman, Comrade Alabi Precious who is the Vice Chairman and Comrade Joseph James Wassah the Edo TUC Secretary, they assert that the agitation by federal government workers is genuine, considering the harsh economy Nigeria and Nigerians are plunged into in recent times.
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| The ever busy Block D of the Edo State Civil Service Secretariat in a desert mode during the June 2024 national strike |
According to Comrade Asemota, "today is the first day of the strike and there is a high level of compliance, though not 100 percent. So as the week draws in and as the strike gathers momentum, the compliance will be much more improved.
"As for today, the airports have been shut down, NNPC locations, especially NNPC E&P among others have been shut down. These are major places where we have a large workforce. A whole lot of the state parastatals have joined the strike. The ones who haven't complied will comply tomorrow.
"Our agitation is on two demands. We are not asking for too much. First is for a fair minimum wage. We have presented the figure for the minimum wage and the figure stands at 490,000 naira while the federal government is standing on 60,000 naira which is a far cry from where we are going. You see the inflation since the last one year, let alone three years ago when the minimum wage was reviewed and right now the digits have tripled if not five times inflated. The prices of foodstuffs, transportation, and rents have all quadrupled. So we cannot have the same amount that we took home five years ago and you just add 20,000 naira or 30,000 naira to it and you think that will take workers for the month. We are saying no to it.
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| Ever busy Block C of the Edo State Civil Service Secretariat in a dry mode during the June 2024 National Strike |
"There are too many considerations which led the national body to arrive at that amount. Though the amount is not fixated. There is a fair middle point the negotiation should reach before we can call off the strike.
"Even if the government is saying they do not have the money or they can't afford it, we have pointed out the areas we can debate that the government should redeploy the revenue to. You can recall that we were spending a lot of money on fuel subsidy, over five trillion naira on subsidy and now that the subsidy has been removed and the impact is on the people, why not divert such funds to the minimum wage so that the people can have something to take home?
"A few days ago, the federal government approved a sum of 90 billion naira for religious pilgrimage. These are not what impact on the society because it is of private interest.
"The Federal Government can trim down their spending to fund the minimum wage that we are demanding", he said.
On the electricity tariff, Comrade Asemota said, "there is an act that brought about the law from the NERC and that Act clearly stipulates that whenever there is any increment or proposed increment, there has to be a stakeholders agreement. As for the stakeholders, it was clearly stated that the organized labour, that is the TUC and NLC must be on that table before that amount will be floated to the public. That process was not followed. It was unprocedural and it is going against the act so, we must revert back to 65 per kilowatt".
On his part, Comrade Alabi Precious who has the Edo State TUC Vice Chairman said, "the government can afford what we are demanding as an organized labour, if the government is sincere and it's negotiating in good faith. As we speak, the fuel subsidy has been removed, the internally generated revenue among others have improved, money can be made available from the subsidy that have been removed. They promised at the time of election that they are coming to improve on the living wage of the workers. As we speak now, the prices of foodstuffs have quadrupled. There is no way the average Nigerian worker will be able to meet up with the demand in society.
"It is very possible for the government to achieve our demands because as we speak now, enough revenue has increased. The oil price has appreciated in the international market. What are We not talking about? A government that can fund to address religious matters which are personal issues. You are talking about 90 billion naira. A government that can afford billions of naira to buy cars for National Assembly members. They are telling us that they cannot pay a minimum wage for Nigerian workers. It is not a fair deal. If the government is negotiating in good faith, I tell you, it is very realizable", he said.
Adding his voice to the issue discussed, the Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, Comrade Joseph James Wassah who is the Secretary of the Edo TUC said, "it is realizable if the federal government is sincere. It is something we can look at. The means is there. We can never be deceived. All the government needs to do is meet us at the round table for reasonable discussion and negotiations then, we will arrive at a conclusion and things will go on. Without which, we will continue with the strike as far as the national directive is concerned.
"However, the Edo State has shown some level of direction and we appreciate the state government for what they have done and that is what we expect the federal government to also do.
"Because Edo State is one of the 36 states of the federation, that is why we are here in solidarity with all workers of Nigeria.
"We are not just here for the minimum wage only. We are also here because of the hike in electricity tariffs. It should be reviewed", he said.
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