Nigerians Are Living In Abject Poverty, Especially Working Class – NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has decried hardship experienced by citizens as a result of government policies and inflation.

The Public Relations Officer, NLC, Lagos Council, Ismail Adejumo, said there was need for the government to roll out palliatives that would help to cushion the effects of hardships in the new year.

Addressing organized labour’s demand for the withdrawal of the Tax Reform Bill and the need to review the minimum wage in an interview on Thursday with News Central, Adejumo stated that the ₦70,000 minimum wage was not a living wage.

The NLC’s Lagos Council spokesman explained that President Bola Tinubu promised workers living wage which was yet to be paid.

He noted that with the rising inflation, workers cannot survive with ₦70,000 minimum wage.

“On the issue of the wage review, you know quite all right that before the agreement was signed for ₦70,000 minimum wage, the labour movement were considering the inflationary in the country, the high cost of living, and it has a lot of effects on the living standard of Nigerians and the workers. So it is on that premise that the three years review as against the initial five years review was considered, but if you look at the current economic reality at the moment, you quite agree that Nigerians are struggling, most especially the working class, to survive.

“Whatever palliatives, whatever measures that were pushing the effects of this high cost of goods and services, high cost of living need to be considered by government. You will recollect vividly that most of the state governors who are agitating, that they cannot even afford 60,000 before the president jacket to 70,000, are now, offering as high as 80,000, 85,000 as the case may be, creating a great disparity.

“Although, we know we cannot have uniform minimum wage, but what we advocate for was a living wage, which Mr. President promised us. Nigerians are living in abject poverty, especially the working class. This is not a living wage, so to say,” he said.

Adejumo stressed that labour’s demand was on the need to solve the current hardship affecting the citizens and workers.

He recalled the stampede incidents across the country during Christmas as a result of hunger.

“So the labour leadership, considering all measures, palliative measures, like the CNG buses, the President promised, they should roll it up; so that it will reduce the cost of transportation. The food relief as well, it also has a lot. You can see the effect of this struggle for food; it has really taken so many lives. So we need to do something proactively to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians and the working people. 

“The Minimum Wage Act as of 2024, signed by Mr. President, is a matter of law. And as at this moment, it can never be reviewed because the agreement was premised on three years. So we are looking towards 2027.

“But what we are saying is this. Policies of government have effects on the lives of citizens. And the working people are not in isolation. So we are at the receiving hand. It is only the working people that will receive a stagnant wage once it is benchmarked. Other workers in the private sectors, employers of labour, all of them will increase their services in line with the economic reality. Inflation as it’s moving, what you buy today is not what you are going to buy tomorrow. So this is really affecting the working people,” Lagos’ NLC spokesman stated.