Do you think NLC's asking for 52k minimum wage is right? Do you think this will further increase inflation or do you think this will actually help the underpaid workers be able to feed their family? Let's hear your say.The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday in Ibadan insisted on N52, 000 minimum wage for workers and also reiterated its opposition for the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector of the economy, threatening to call out workers to down tools. Addressing the workers at the NLC secretariat, who trooped to the streets of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, in a peaceful rally organised by the union, Abdulwaheed Ibrahim Umar, president, Nigerian Labour Congress, said the major reason for organising the rally was to strongly oppose the proposed plan by the Federal Government to deregulate the petroleum sector, describing the plan as totally unacceptable to the Nigerian masses.
He stated further that the government does not really have the interest of the Nigerian masses at heart, but rather the revenue generation that would accrue to it through the deregulation.
At the rally, which was the 7th in the series of rallies being organised by the Nigerian Labour Congress against the Federal Government’s decision to deregulate the downstream petroleum sector of the economy and press home the N52, 000 minimum wage for workers, Umar declared: “The planned deregulation of the petroleum sector with the modest increase of N94 per litre of petrol would only add to the sufferings of the Nigerian masses; rather than government addressing the major problems of corruption, they now think deregulation is the solution”.
He maintained that the country is not meant for the rich only, but for all, saying “we have told the government on many occasions to consider the increase in the minimum wage of the workers, but the government seems to be adamant. What we are asking for is a living wage of N52,000; we have made series of consultations with the Federal Government, after this rally we would be compelled to ask the Nigerian workers to down tools if the government seems not to be listening to us”, Umar threatened.
