The President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, said they made a deal with President Tinubu before they agreed to the N70,000 minimum wage.
Ajaero claimed on Arise TV yesterday that the labor union said no to the petrol price increase and chose N70,000 as the new minimum wage.
He also mentioned that once the labor union agreed with the president on using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), they negotiated with a team of experts who agreed to convert vehicles to CNG for N300,000.
But when they met with the government team, the officials turned down the NLC deal and said converting vehicles to CNG would cost N800,000.
Remember that the labor unions in Nigeria wanted N250,000 as the new minimum wage, but they eventually agreed to the President’s offer of N70,000.
According to him,
“The basis of accepting the N70,000 minimum wage was for the president not to increase the pump price of petroleum products and we made it clear there. If he had gone ahead to increase it, then we need to discuss the implications because we can’t compare N70,000 with what is happening now.
From N700 to where we are now, we are having about a 70% increase and it is telling more on transportation. And there is no CNG bus that is already operating.
“Before you do such a thing anywhere in the world, you consult your social partners. And if you check the implications of the increase on the employers, the manufacturers, the organized private sector, as regards the cost of production, then the issue has to be negotiated.
“The way forward is to reverse it because workers are on edge now to see whether they can go to work or not.
“We need to sit down, governance is for the people, governance is not all about increase in electricity tariff, increase in pump price of petroleum products, increase in taxes, etc. It has to be negotiated, various arms of government have to be involved in it.”
Opinion: NLC Accepted N70,000 Minimum Wage to Prevent Fuel Price Increase
I have two questions for the NLC chairman.
1) Was there a signed agreement between NLC and the CNG company?
2) Also, was there a signed agreement that the federal government will not increase the fuel price within a certain period?
If both are yes, then you can sue the government. But if not, let the union accept her negligence and take her loss.
I have mentioned in previous posts that the NLC shouldn’t have fought for an increment in minimum wage.
It will only lead to inflation, leading to the increase in the price of goods.
Also, you know our nation, a bill signed today can take the next 7 months to implement.
A better option would have to ask the government to return subsidy and leave the previous minimum wage of N33,000.
It is not having enough money in your account that matter but its purchasing power. What can the money buy?
I hope this helps…