NOSA EGHAGHA
ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has called for the yearly review of wages based on the level of inflation and value of the Naira.
Ajaero stated this on Tuesday at the 2nd National Labour Adjudication and Arbitration Forum, organised by the National Employers Consultative Association (NECA), in Abuja.
The NLC President said that who spoke on the impact of the galloping inflation on the wages of Nigerian workers, he said that, ‘No matter what amount you negotiate in present Nigerian economy, in the next five years, it can’t buy a bag of rice”.
“There is a need to tinker with the law providing for five yearly renegotiation of national minimum wage to allow for yearly adjustment of wages based on the level of inflation and value of the Naira.
“This is important because people have been coming up to say that if we increase salaries, it will affect the inflation but should we leave salary to be constant while other variables continue to grow?”
Ajaero also said that workers are displeased over the poor implementation of the wage award by government, saying that nobody is paying the N35,000 as agreed last year.
According to him, the federal government workers are yet to receive their January salary as at yesterday.
Ajaero wondered why it took the president less than 24 hours to implement the removal of fuel subsidy but was unable to decide on measures to manage its impact eight months after.
“It took you 24 hours to say fuel subsidy is gone and is taking you more than eight months to decide what to do with it and you telling us to give you more time. It took 24 hours to remove fuel subsidy, but more than eight months, no single CNG bus is on the road.” He said
Ajaero said it is better for him to be in jail than see workers earning poor wages less than what prison dogs consume.
