The Nigeria Union of Pensioners, (NUP) Southwest Zone, on Thursday, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to consider the position of the labour union on the national minimum wage, saying the organised unions are not asking for too much, considering the current high cost of essential commodities and services.
The pensioners urged President Tinubu to live up to expectations by giving priority to the livelihood of Nigerians.
This is just as the pensioners demanded the abolition of five years review of the minimum wage, but said it should be negotiated periodically in line with economic reality.
The Southwest Pensioners’ position was contained in a communique issued at the end of the pensioners’ Executives from Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun, Lagos and Ondo states, held in Akure, the state capital.
Reading the communique, the Zonal Public Relations Officer of the union and the Oyo State Secretary, Dr Olusegun Abatan, said the Senior citizens are not happy that Tinubu’s government and state governors are not taking the minimum wage negotiation seriously.
They noted that despite hardship confronting workers, pensioners and Nigerians at large since the removal of fuel subsidy, the present administration had failed to attend to the plight of the people.
Reacting to the stalemate in the negotiation, the Southwest NUP leadership said, “In Nigeria, the situation is so dynamic that what you’re earning five years ago with the current situation of buying and selling commodities, services now, you will definitely see that it is different.
“So what we are saying, in essence, is that we should go back to our memory lane, while the NLC and TUC should send a Bill to the National Assembly for the enactment of a law that will compel the government to review minimum wage whenever there is an economic problem.
“The salary increase should be based according to the dictates of the socio-economic situation of the country, not until it reaches five years.
“So the demands of NLC, and TUC is not out of place if we factor in the economic problem, the amount of money the political holders are collecting every month in this country.
“So what we are saying, in essence, is that we should go back to our memory lane, while the NLC and TUC should send a Bill to the National Assembly for the enactment of a law that will compel the government to review minimum wage whenever there is the economic problem.”
The NUP in the communique stressed that there is a need for the Ondo state Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa to fulfill his promise of regular payment of gratuities and his administration should restore payment of N10,000 palliative allowance to pensioners in the state which was stopped since January this year.
“We want to congratulate the President for clocking a year in the office, while we also want to congratulate NADECO, from where Bola Tinubu came from because he was a very active member of the group.
“But since he came on board as our President, we have not seen the signs of His Excellency key into the ideas of NADECO.
“We want him (Tinubu) to go back and see what he can do, he should go back and do what he was saying during the time of NADECO.
“He should do what he said then that Nigeria should have a better life because things are getting worse every day.”
The NLC/TUC had proposed N497,000 as the new minimum wage, while the government’s side and organised private sector are pushing for N57,000.
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