•Salary payment will be a miracle after June without subsidy removal, Obaseki warns• Tells FG to use $800m World Bank loan to fix refineries• Your fight will be my fight, Tinubu tells workersIndeed, the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, two years after he raised the alarm that the Federal Government was broke and printed about N60 billion to augment allocation to states, , yesterday, sounded another warning bell, that the Federal Government may not be able to pay workers’ salaries beyond...
“Workers must now rise and ensure that they champion any discussion on subsidy removal. You must shift from the tradition of reacting when these policies have been made but insist that you take charge and ensure full transparency and disclosure. If we are all undertaking a reform, then the benefits and pains that will come out of the reforms must be mutually shared by all Nigerians, not just the downtrodden.
They equally pointed at some private sector employers that have begun to act in total disregard to the nation’s laws, stating that they should be prepared for more robust engagement with organised labour. Ajaero also demanded that the salary of core civil servants should be beefed up to narrow the gap between the emoluments of civil servants and those of employees in other segments of the public service.
She said the need was necessary so that independent marketers could reduce the importation of petroleum products to the barest minimum. He queried what palliatives are being put in place to cushion the effect on Lagosians should the Federal Government go ahead to remove fuel subsidy and urged the incoming administration to consult widely and put adequate measures in place before embarking on such a sensitive policy that was capable of creating serious challenges for the citizens.
In his May Day address to workers yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari urged President-elect Bola Tinubu to respect workers’ rights when he assumes office. Tinubu, however, demanded a better understanding and cooperation from all sides, ahead of the tough and hard decisions that may be taken while at the helm of affairs of the country.
“In Nigeria of today, the minimum wage of N30,000 cannot buy a full bag of rice, let alone cloth or pay for a worker’s many utility bills. In fact, hyperinflation in all sectors of our nation has constituted serious socio-economic strangulation to the average Nigerian worker, who’s now poorer than 2015 when APC came to power.”