Comrade Timi Frank, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress leadership to turn down any federal minimum wage offer that is less than N250,000.
In a statement released on Friday in Abuja, Frank charged that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was applying different rules when determining compensation, arguing that what is beneficial for those holding judicial offices also benefits Nigerian employees.
He questioned why it was not possible to do the same for workers if the bill to raise judges’ salaries by 300 percent could be hastily approved by the national assembly’s two houses.
Frank remarked, “How can you add peanuts to the meagre N30,000 minimum wage that people in this country have been forced to live with for the last five years and enhance the income of an arm of government that is already receiving a monstrous salary by 300 percent?
“Why did the President form a tripartite committee to negotiate a “starvation wage” (apologies to NLC President Joe Ajaero) for suffering Nigerian workers instead of the “living wage” he promised them when he took office in May of last year, and then send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to effect a 300 percent upward review in the salaries of judicial office holders?”
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Given the current socioeconomic challenges in Nigeria, any compensation less than N250,000.00 cannot be regarded as a fair salary for workers in the country.
Frank emphasised that rather than increasing take-home pay, which is already excessively high and stifles employees on an economic, financial, and social level, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government should lower their salaries and allowances to accommodate Nigerian workers who could hardly afford one meal a day.
Thus, at this juncture in the country’s history, he called on the leadership of organised labour to remain unwavering in their demand that workers receive a living wage.
