Lagos workers deserve living wage, LP tells Sanwo-Olu
The Lagos State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has appealed to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ensure living wages for workers in the state.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mrs Olubunmi Odesanya made the plea in an interview on Wednesday in Lagos.
Odesanya, while assessing Sanwo-Olu as he marks first anniversary in his second tenure, said that the governor needed to step up his game to relieve residents of the current socio-economic challenges.
According to him, masses in the state including workers are struggling to survive and meet their daily personal and family needs.
She urged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to pity the workers in whatever it was proposing as the minimum wage.
Odesanya said that the people, however, needed was a living wage, which took cognisant of the socio-economic indices for workers to be happy.
Odesanya said: “We are all watching in awe, the minimum wage debacle.
“The current minimum wage of thirty thousand naira is due for review this year 2024, as we can recall, from the agreed and written Labours Laws.
“Ordinarily, the review ought not create so much apprehension or furore but for the difficulties in the country.
“There is an urgent need for the Federal Government and the state government to give a living wage to the workers that lay the golden egg.”
He said that the immediate removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government drove the prices of goods and services to an astronomical high level and beyond the reach of the poor and the middle class.
“In Nigeria today, there is no middle class anymore, “you are either extremely poor or super rich. Inflation rate is currently over thirty-three percent,” she said.
The LP spokesperson however decried the current back and forth battle between the Federal Government and organised Labour on the minimum wage.
“It is grossly insulting for the FG to even propose a N48,000 minimum wage, then N54,00, N57,000 and latest N60,000 to the Nigerian workers under the present and prevailing economic indices in the country.
“What does an average politician earn in this country compared to the workers? What is the cost of a bag of the most common staple food (rice) in the market?
“So, if the price of a bag of rice is above N60,000, it means the FG’s proposed minimum wage cannot buy a bag of rice in a month.
“The exorbitant price of Garri is also sliding out of the reach of the Nigerian worker. Let us pity the workers,” she said.
“The FG should block the wastages, stop corruption and cut down on the bogus salaries of not only federal lawmakers, but also the appointed government officials to enable the Nigerian Workers breath and earn a living wage commensurate with International Standard,” she said.
The Organised Labour on Tuesday walked out of the Tripartite Committee meeting on Minimum Wage after the Federal Government increased its offer to N60,000.
Recalled that the government and the OPS had initially proposed ₦48,000 and ₦54,000 last week, which were also rejected by the organised labour.
The organised labour had also presented ₦615,000 as the new minimum wage but saw reasons to drop their demand to ₦497,000 last week and then to ₦494,000 on Tuesday.
