Comrade Timi Frank, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress leadership to turn down any federal minimum wage offer that is less than N250,000.
In a statement released on Friday in Abuja, Frank charged that the administration of President Bola Tinubu was applying different rules when determining compensation, arguing that what is beneficial for those holding judicial offices also benefits Nigerian employees.
He questioned why it was not possible to do the same for workers if the bill to raise judges’ salaries by 300 percent could be hastily approved by the national assembly’s two houses.
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Frank noted: “How can you increase the salary of an arm of government that is already earning a humongous salary by 300 per cent and add peanuts to the paltry N30,000 that workers have been compelled to live with in this country as minimum wage in the last five years?
“Why did the President send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly to effect a 300 per cent upward review in the salaries of judicial office holders but set up a tripartite committee to negotiate a “starvation wage” (apologies to NLC President Joe Ajaero) for suffering Nigerian workers instead of a “living wage” he promised them on assumption of office in May last year?”
“Any amount below N250,000.00 cannot be considered a decent wage for Nigerian workers considering the present socio-economic hardship in the country.
Frank emphasised that rather than increasing take-home pay, which is already excessively high and stifles employees on an economic, financial, and social level, the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government should lower their salaries and allowances to accommodate Nigerian workers who could hardly afford one meal a day.
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Thus, at this juncture in the country’s history, he called on the leadership of organised labour to remain unwavering in their demand that workers receive a living wage.
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