Union shuns today’s protest, insists it wasn’t consulted
The Federal Government has been advised to undertake massive food importation to address the pervasive hunger in the land.

President of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, who gave the advice yesterday in Abuja, urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to keep the exchange rate within the range of N600.

The central labour body observed that the uncontrolled Naira devaluation is the major root cause of the problems Nigerians are facing as an import-dependent country.

Osifo insisted that the flip-flop nature of the exchange rate was increasing prices of diesel, cement and basic commodities.

His words: “The value of our Naira has eroded, and our wage can barely buy anything in the market, as Naira has officially devalued by over 250 per cent from N460 to N1,600 since May 2023.”

He explained that TUC supported the government’s effort at unifying the exchange rate, but not to subject the Naira to the dictates of speculators.

Osifo continued: “On May 29, 2023, the government announced that it would be unifying the exchange rate. Initially, most of us thought that the multiple exchange rate windows that hitherto existed officially and maintained by CBN would merge into one, pegging the exchange rate at an average of N500 to one dollar. But a scenario where we have allowed speculators to hijack the market and the official rate is now chasing the black market rate all in the name of demand and supply is embarrassingly worrisome.”

While refraining from naming a figure for the new minimum wage, the TUC boss lamented the erosion of wages, which would likely make negotiating daunting.

He added: “When the former National Minimum Wage Act was signed into law in 2011, the minimum wage was increased from N7,500 to N18,000. At that time, the Naira to dollar exchange rate was about N155 to one dollar. This sets the minimum wage in Nigeria at about 116 dollars. This value shows the real purchasing power of the minimum wage since Nigeria is mostly reliant on
imports.”

“Again in 2019, when the national minimum wage of N30,000 was passed into law, the Naira to dollar exchange rate was about N360 to a dollar; this pegged the minimum wage to about 85.5 dollars.

“Basic economics teaches us that money serves as a store of value. However, due to uncontrolled devaluation, the value of the Naira has eroded over time. Today, the real value of the minimum wage is equivalent to 17 dollars, using an exchange rate of N1,700 to a dollar. The decrease in workers’ disposable income is at the heart of the current crisis.”

Osifo restated that the quest for survival is more real than ever before, saying Nigerians must live to see tomorrow before they could understand how beautiful a government policy is.

The union, thereby, demanded that the government should urgently begin importation of essential food items within the next two weeks.

It charged states to immediately choose at least six different food crops to cultivate.

TUC counselled: “Similarly, each local government must identify three food crops to cultivate. Now that we are approaching the rainy season, this must be done immediately in order to boost food production in the next few months.

“An emergency food coordination centre between the federal and state government should be set up immediately to interface on the kind of crop to produce and the variety that will yield much more per hectare.”

The group denied pulling out of today’s Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) protest, stating that it was never part of the planning.

Osifo clarified: “TUC was not a part of the planning of the protest. We were not consulted. We cannot, therefore, opt out of an arrangement we were not a part of. But we understand what the NLC is doing and it is justifiable.”

He also revealed that the national minimum wage committee has started deliberation by splitting into sub-committees.