The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, on Thursday, lamented that Nigeria was just the ‘Giant of Africa’ without reasonable salaries for its workers,
The union also said it is tired of flimsy excuses, it also decried the weakness of the naira amid the current economic challenges in the country.
TUC National President, Festus Osifo, stated this during the South-West Labour Summit, with the theme: “Repositioning The Labour Movement Amidst Economic Decline in Nigeria,” held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Osifo said: “We called ourselves the Giant of Africa, yet we can’t pay a reasonable minimum wage. We are tired of the government telling us to continue coping.”
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According to him, Nigerian workers were facing a lot of financial challenges, as he urged the Federal Government to ensure the economy of the nation was well managed so that the naira could have more value and compete with others across the world.
Speaking on the ongoing minimum wage negotiation, Osifo said what Nigerian workers wanted was not just a minimum wage but a living wage, suggesting that the minimum wage should be negotiated every two years and adjusted for inflation.
In his remark, the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Bayo Lawal, urged the union to tread softly on the issue of the minimum wage, noting that current economic hardship was not only limited to Nigeria but universal.
According to Lawal, the state, as part of its love for workers and pensioners, paid them on the 25th of every month since the inception of the Governor Seyi Makinde administration.
He said the welfare of workers remained paramount to the progress and development of the state.
The deputy governor, therefore, sought collaboration between the Nigeria Labour Congress and TUC in the state.
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