A chieftain and founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has appealed to the Organised Labour to desist from the danger of “throwing away our Baby-Democracy with Bathwater”, saying the indefinite strike could destablise the economy, spiral into unintended consequences and harm our fledgling democracy.
Okechukwu, the immediate-past Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), in a statement, agreed with Labour that “the labourer is entitled to living wage, especially in the midst of stagflation and declining living conditions,” but advised them “to adopt house ownership for every worker as middle ground, to augment the N60,000 offered by government and the private sector”.
Okechukwu added that house ownership gives workers inner peace of mind, improves living conditions and encourages productivity.
He stated that the N497,000 asked by Labour is unaffordable, pointing out that “more than ten states either could not or had blatantly refused to pay the existing minimum wage of N30,000 till date”.
He said that paying the him9nguous amount labour was demanding “could spiral hyperinflation and lead to mass retrenchment of workers”.
He accordingly called on President Tinubu to as matter of urgent national importance to retool his Renewed Hope housing program and embark on house ownership for all workers nationwide as alternative to unaffordable minimum wage.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) is mobilising its members to embark on the indefinite strike in line with the directive of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The acting General-Secretary, Dominic Igwebike, gave the directive to the members in a statement on Saturday, June 1.
Igwebike said that along with the reasons of inconclusive negotiations on the minimum wage and electricity tariff hike, apartheid categorisation of Nigeria’s electricity consumers into bands was another, to embark on the strike.
“Given the above, all national, state, and chapter executives are requested to start the mobilisation of our members in total compliance with this directive to ensure the government does the right thing as stated above.
“The withdrawal of services becomes effective on Sunday 2nd June by 12.00 midnight,“ the union leader said.
