Presidential flagbearer flays antagonists of N30,000 minimum wage

Presidential candidate of the People’s Trust (PT), Gbenga Hashim, has condemned the refusal by the Federal Government and some governors to pay N30,000 as minimum wage to workers.

Hashim, at the party’s secretariat in Akure, Ondo State at the weekend, pledged to immortalise the former director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), the late Dora Akunyili.

The presidential hopeful, who is a former Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lamented that those criticising N30,000 minimum wage lack creativity and initiatives.

“In 1983, Nigeria had N125 minimum wage, the equivalent of N50,000 today.

“For those who are complaining about paying N30,000 minimum wage, tell them that they lack initiative and cannot think as far and as seriously as those who governed Nigeria in 1983,” he said, promising to unite Nigeria, if voted into power.

“We will unite Nigeria because the country has never been so divided as it is today under the All Progressives Congress (APC). We will give Nigerians a government that will unite the people, secure the land and where the lives of the people will count equally,” he said.

Expressing determination to empower women in the country by surpassing the 35 per cent affirmative action, he added: “I fought for that when I was the secretary of the youths and women sub-committee of the Transition Committee of President Obasanjo in 1999. In the cabinet, there were more than 30 per cent, almost 35 per cent of them.

“I will exceed that projection if elected president. Even as a member of the committee, I fought for that. At least, at the cabinet and Federal Government level in terms of appointments into parastatals, we will affirm that Affirmative Action Declaration.”

Meanwhile, the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria [ALGON] and the Change for African group have said that never again should Nigerians vote for politicians who have contributed to the poor governance of the nation at all levels.

The groups lamented that many people who find their ways to the corridors of power are the worst set of people, who have nothing to offer but only to rule over the best candidates.

At a media briefing in Abuja, the Founder and President of the Change for Africa, Mr. Saheed Adelanwa said: ‘’Too much of our politics is stuck in an orgy of violence, trafficking in the greed of corrupt practices, god fatherism, and personal political dynasties in a contagious way that spreads from one part of our country to the rest.

“It gives power to the worst of us to recklessly rule the best of us at the detriment of all of us. This has led to poor governance over the years and it must stop.’’

He described Change for Africa as a non- governmental organization, non partisan with over 7,774 members across Nigeria already partnering ALGON to properly educate the people, especially the youths, to vote credible candidates who have the love of the people at heart, people who will unite the country into power in the 2019 elections.