Organised Labour in Ogun State on Monday demanded a minimum wage of N150,000 for its workers in the state civil service to mitigate the effects of economic hardships on their living conditions.
They also demanded prompt salary payment, transport via CNG buses with subsidised fares, quarterly release and payment of retirees’ gratuity, among other issues.
This was expected following the approval of a new minimum wage of N104,000 by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma and N90,000 by Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru, respectively.
In a letter addressed to Governor Dapo Abiodun through the Office of the Head of Service, the organised labour submitted their demand for a wage increase, titled “Plea for Consideration of Upward Review of the New Minimum Wage.”
The letter was signed by the Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Com. Akeem Lasisi; Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC), Com. Ademola Hameed-Benco; Joint Negotiating Council(JNC), Isa Olude; NLC’s Secretary, Chris Omoneh, TUC’s Secretary, Com. Olusegun Adebiyi and JNC’s Secretary, Com. Olayemi Oloyede
The workers urged the state government to consider a 100 per cent increase in the current N77,000 minimum wage, citing soaring inflation and rising food costs as key reasons for their new demands.
They called on the Abiodun-led administration to come to their rescue and accede to the request for a minimum wage of N150,000, just as the Imo and Ebonyi state governments had done for workers in their respective states, to cushion the effects of the economic downturn on their day-to-day needs.
The workers, who appealed to the governor to save them from hunger and untold hardship caused by fuel subsidy removal and unstable foreign exchange rates, said that the state government, with the substantial increase from the allocation received from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), could pay the amount.
They said that the declining purchasing power of essential goods, the high transportation costs, and the daily struggle to afford basic necessities and make ends meet made the N77,000 minimum wage unsustainable for them.
The letter reads, “Your Excellency,
“PLEA FOR CONSIDERATION OF UPWARD REVIEW OF THE NEW MINIMUM WAGE
“We respectfully present the warmest of fraternal compliments to Your Excellency as expressed by the State Leadership of the Organised Labour as well as the entire affiliates of our Congresses, and most especially, the State Government Civil/Public Service employees.”
“In the same breath, mention must also be made of those various economic and social interventions aimed purposely to help ameliorate the hard-pressing existential realities that we all are experiencing. Prompt payment of salary, the CNG buses providing us transport with subsidised fares, quarterly release and payment of gratuity of retirees, etc.
“To us, Your Excellency, these measures which your administration has relentlessly pursued should ordinarily, in a few months, provide the enablement for the entire citizens of our dear State. Tenaciously, we hold on to the belief that the Renewed Hope crusade of the President of our Republic, His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, surely, will lead us all into the Nigeria of our dreams.”
“However, Your Excellency, in spite of these sustained and commendable efforts of both the Federal and the State Governments, our day-to-day living has been filled with highly depressive thoughts. Quite frankly, and as though the nation’s economic dynamics have been on overdrive, we, the salary earners, have come to the point of self-blame and regrets.”
“It is needless to start itemising one after another, either from foods, clothing, or, as basic as medicine, whose costs, in recent times, have been on the upswing. Evidences of our sorry state are readily found in the rapidly expanding street trading in most of our state’s major cities and towns, whilst we, the government workers, are daily being bombarded with unimaginable financial requests from relatives and dependants.
“Increasingly, and it calls for worry, actually, that people with curable ailments now patronise unorthodox medical practitioners whose herbal curative claims are not only bogus but also mind boggling Perhaps it is this disturbing socioeconomic trend that the nation’s number one citizen has come to grasp with when His Excellency appealed to the subnationals’ administrative executives to “attend to your people’s needs.”
“Your Excellency, we humbly plead with you, Sir, to kindly find means to urgently rescue us from this depressing economic situation. We are strongly convinced that the recent exemplary gestures of the upward minimum wage reviews in Imo and Ebonyi States were in clear and loud responses to President Tinubu’s charge and that of the citizens’ cries. Incidentally, the two States are in South East and good enough, Your Excellency is the General Officer Commanding, i.e., the sitting Chairman of the Southern Nigeria Governors’ Forum.”
“The South of our nation leads always, whilst the rest aligns. It can further be dissected also that it is via the superstructure of the Public Service and its governance chains that state wealth gets distributed. It will be in order, by all economic theoretical standards and principles, that the use and employment of upward review of minimum wage serves as an effective tool to reboot dwindling fortunes of citizens.”
“Furthermore, Your Excellency, the various statistics on the nation’s economy are more telling that indeed, the reforms of the Federal Government, though are yielding desired and targeted outcomes but the expected corresponding impacts have not been felt by common citizens.”
“The huge turnovers, as reflected in the Federation Account Allocation Committee [FAAC] disbursements since the birth of the reforms amongst other governments’ incomes, are ready testament to the improved fortunes of the country. Curiously, however, these positive signals are clearly at variance with our realities of living. Suffice to plead with Your Excellency to kindly and urgently consider the upward minimum wage review.”
“The seventy-seven thousand naira [#77, 000.00] benchmark has obviously come to nought in the face of the skyrocketing prices of goods and services. As widely reported, the dwindling purchasing power, especially for we, the salary earners, is driven majorly by high inflation and the devaluation of the nation’s currency, the naira, which ultimately reduces the value of earnings and pauperise us the more.”
“Of certain, the removal of fuel subsidies, increased electricity tariffs, and the unification of the foreign exchange market precipitated the observed decrease in our household spending, lowering our consumption of essential goods generally, and we struggle daily to afford even basic necessities. To effectively and adequately tackle the challenge, we opined that a 100% increase of the current minimum wage rate could be a fair, justifiable consideration.”
“Now is the auspicious moment in which Your Excellency showcases your renowned and profound trait of Omolu’abi. We respectfully plead your magnanimity to return a little smile to our cheeks. In the meantime and as always, you have our esteemed and kindest assurances, Your Excellency.”
