By Bolaji Buhari
Lagos – The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has urged the Federal Government to speed up the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage in order to improve the living condition of workers.
The Lagos State Chairman of the council, Mallam Shakirudeen Olofin, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos.
He said that Nigerian workers had endured enough hardship owing to the rising cost of living.
He added the speedy implementation of the new minimum wage would give the workers some relief.
Olofin, who commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the minimum wage bill into law, urged him to give life to the law with dispatch.
”The Federal Government, led by President Buhari, has done well by agreeing with the NLC on the N30,000 minimum wage and signing it into law.
”But since April that the law had been signed, it has been one delay or the other, and we think the government is not being fair to workers on this.
”The cost of living has doubled in the last six years and workers are still on the old N18,000 wage, enduring the hardship caused by and others.
”Workers need succour fast. Even though the N30,000 is not in tune with the present economic reality, government should implement it fast to give workers some relief,” he said.
According to Olofin, Nigerian workers are making serious sacrifice for the country and they deserve commensurate pay for the sake of equity and fairness.
He faulted the government’s implementation committee’s disagreements with labour over the adjustments on the wages of those already earning above N30,000 minimum wage.
Olofin said that government’s reported insistence on a single digit adjustments for middle-level and senior workers smacked of insensitivity.
”Single digit adjustments for those already earning above N30,000 cannot be justified. All categories of workers are in the same economy, with the inflationary rate being the same.
”In a country where legislators and other categories of political office holders earn millions in income and allowances monthly, failure to give workers fair adjustments on their wages smacks of insensitivity,” he said.
The IPAC chairman, who urged President Buhari to urgently intervene to get the right adjustments for workers, also called on state governments to begin implementation immediately the template was published.
On calls to delist political parties over poor performance in the 2019 elections, he described such move as unnecessary.
Olofin said delisting political parties because they did not win seats in an election was an infringement on the democratic rights of Nigerians.
”You cannot force people to join the big parties; political parties are all about ideology and nobody should constrict the political space.
”The calls are unnecessary; we condemn such at IPAC. Parties should be registered as long as they meet certain guidelines and that should not include winning elections,” he said.
(NAN)
