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File photo of NLC Chairman Comrade Joe Ajaero leading a protest
In a bid to establish a new minimum wage that would be in line with the cost of living, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Friday said it will not back down from its efforts to improve worker welfare.
In his address at the 11thQuadrennial Delegates Conference of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria in Abuja, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the President of the NLC, urged the Federal Government to provide salaries and wages that are in line with the cost of living.
This was as Comrade Kabiru Minjibir, the Acting National President of the Medical and Health Workers Union (MHWU), warned that chaos would soon break out in the nation if the current crisis is not resolved immediately.
Saturday Telegraph reports that during the public hearing for the North Central on Thursday, the NLC submitted N709,000 for consideration as the new national minimum wage.
On the other hand, N447,000 was the amount that the Trade Union Congress (TUC), suggested to be considered as the new national minimum wage.
Speaking at the event, Ajaero said:”Food has become so scarce that Nigerians have become scavengers and resorted to raiding food trucks and warehouses for food.
“If those in government cannot see the danger in what is happening, we see it and must ensure that the government fulfifulfillsduties to the people.
“We are increasingly going hungry in our father’s land and cannot continue in this destitution. The greatest unifyer and mobiliser of a people is hunger, so it is common when those in government assume that somebody is sponsoring people who are protesting because of hunger.
“If anybody is arousing the people, it is those in government whose policies have impoverished the people and stripped them of those values that make them human beings.
“The looting of food trucks and warehouses is what you get when this happens. Unless something is done, this may unfortunately escalate. We pray it does not.
“Those who therefore think that they can stop us from this divine mission with their threats and violence should think twice. We cannot be cowed. We cannot surrender our natural mandate to powers and agents of poverty and emasculation.
“We are not after anybody’s job but we must insist that the instruments of governance must be used for the greater good of the people and not to wreck their lives.” (Saturday Telegraph)
