Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North in the 10th Senate on Saturday proposed N100,000 as the new minimum wage for Nigerian workers, saying anything less than that is an insult on the civil servants.

Nwoko who stated this while answering questions from newsmen at the 6th edition of the Silent Heroes Awards in Abuja also commended the compendium put together by the organizer of the event, Mr. Sunday Odita.

According to him, “There are so many problems in Nigeria, from the economy to security issues, minimum wage and all of that. If you ask me about minimum wage, I will say that at least, everybody deserves a rise. Even if we say a hundred thousand naira, I will think it is the ideal thing. But look, what can hundred thousand naira do for anybody? Tell me, how many bags of rice can that buy? How many fuel tanks can that fill? So we have to be realistic about our economy.

“Government is meant to provide environment for those who are doing business to do well or create jobs where possible. But we must have a minimum wage. It is not very good to put mildly when people are paid minimum wage that is abysmal and they are not able to achieve the basic needs of life.

“So, I think that a minimum wage of one thousand is not out of place. That should be the beginning. That kind of amount should be what we should be looking at. Anything less than that is an insult on the civil servant,” he said.

While commending the Silent Heroes Initiatives, Sen. Nwoko however, advised that one does not need to be a senator or a governor to be honoured. This is as he urged the organizers to look out to those truly silent heroes who are doing great things but largely unknown to the world.

He said, “Unfortunately, most of the deserving awardees who are doing great things quietly out there unknown are not here. But how do we get to them? How do you bring them up? You don’t need to be a senator, or a governor to be acknowledged. I am talking about those who are there. They could be security men, they could be drivers, they could be cooks, but they have done so many wonderful things. This are the people I expect in the future for an event of this nature. Look for them. Ask the populace to identify those who have done remarkable things. Like someone at the shopping mall who has seen somebody been mocked and goes to defend the person. You know, something uniquely different,” he advised.

Meanwhile, the Project Coordinator of the event, Mrs. Ozioma Sonia Odita-Sunday earlier in her speech said the aim of the initiative is to “identify and recognize some silent achievers in their own right within our plural society.”

Adding, she said the awardees were carefully nominated from among hundreds of other recommendations in view of the outstanding contributions they made over the years in their various spheres of life to add value to humanity.

Some of the notable Silent Heroes include Dr. Mohammed Matawalle, Gov. Ahmed Usman Ododo, CNS Ikechukwu Ogalla, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, Prof. Leroy Chuma Edozion, and Moses Amiebenomo and so on. (Daily Independent)

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