ILORIN- The Organized Labour and women in informal sector have been assured of improved wage income, empowerment and job security under the leadership of the President-elect, Sen. Bola Ahmed, and Vice President-Elect, Kashim Shettima.
Mr Issa Aremu, the Director General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, gave this assurance on Wednesday while declaring open activities to mark 2023 International Women Day (IWD), organized by the women commission of the Institute.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
Aremu said the record of labour administration of the President-elect as former two-term governor of Lagos state, from 1999 to 2007, and campaign programme of the APC, positioned him “as the possible best labour friendly President in waiting.
According to him, Tinubu was the first Presidential candidate to engage both NLC and TUC members on critical labour market issues with promises of social dialogue as means for resolving inevitable disputes in the world of work.
He described the President elect and his Vice as “tested and trusted democratic state and non-state icons”, who would consolidate on some of the pro-labour legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari.
He added that he will engage organized labour on all outstanding issues of living wage, gender equity, pension, labour motivation, productivity, social protection and dispute resolutions.
He recalled that the President elect “had been a frequent visiting friend of labour who often intervened between organized labour and government on contentious policy issues at the time it was not fashionable to do so.
“Lagos State under Bola Ahmed and subsequent Governors have been known to be at the vanguard of improving workers’ welfare.
“He didn’t only implement all the minimum wages passed in the last 20 years but has not been known to have defaulted in salary payment to its workers, despite the withheld Local Government Fund.
“The State still prioritized payment of salaries for its workers, including local government employees. Lagos has successfully implemented the contributory pension scheme to ensure healthy retirement and guarantee regular payment of pension to workers in future,” he said.
Aremu said while many states are yet to sign on to compulsory Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), Lagos since 2004 has paid as much as N150 billion to almost 30,000 retirees.
He added that President-elect Tinubu remains the best labour-friendly president in waiting that would guarantee decent work.
The Director General commended Nigerians for keeping faith with Democratic process in the past 24 years despite the challenges of rising inflation and wage income poverty.
He, however, decried the sharp drop of number of women candidates in the 2023 elections compared to the figure of 2019 elections.
“Democracy is only sustainable with inclusive participation of women as candidates as much as voters,” he said. (NAN)
