The Peoples Democratic Party, on Monday, advised the organised labour not to settle for nothing less than N120,000 as a minimum, saying the Federal Government had no excuse not to pay as much.
But the ruling All Progressives Congress, whose government is proposing N60,000 as minimum wage, described the PDP’s advice to Labour as unpatriotic.
The Organised labour, spearheaded by the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trades Union Congress, began a nationwide strike on Monday after rejecting the Federal Government’s N60,000 minimum wage offer as opposed to the N494,000 being demanded by labour.
The strike paralysed activities at government offices, airports, schools and hospitals; while the electricity supply was cut and water distribution was halted.
In an interview with our correspondent, the PDP Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the APC-led Federal Government was being insincere in its negotiation with Labour.
According to him, the Federal Government had been extravagant and so could not claim not to have funds to pay at least N120,000 as minimum wage.
Abdullahi said, “The back and forth with the labour leaders is hypocritical of the government. They didn’t mean well for Nigerians from the word go, even when they started engaging the NLC. It was not an intended policy direction. It was something that was made as a smokescreen to continue to deceive the Nigerian workers and, of course, the nation.
“With the lies the APC is telling us, if they can afford to construct a road for N3tn, if they can afford to do all this jamboree if they can afford to take 1,500 government officials out of this country for things that are not important, then I don’t know why, for crying out loud, they should not be able to pay a reasonable minimum wage.
“The reasonable minimum wage Nigeria should take at this moment should be N120,000 or nothing less. If Nigerians cannot be given that as a minimum wage, then we better go on with this strike unending. So that the government will know that some people put them there if they were truly elected.”
But when contacted, the APC Publicity Director, Bala Ibrahim, lambasted the opposition for instigating the organised labour against the government.
Ibrahim stated “The PDP is gradually turning into something that will one day question the integrity of the Constitution of Nigeria.
“If the PDP had won the election, believe me, it would have not been a question of minimum wage, there would be no wage at all. So, they said it out of anger, the bitterness of losing an election, and lack of patriotism.”
The APC Publicity Director acknowledged the hardship in the country but described the NLC and TUC’s demand for N494,000 minimum wage as unreasonable.
Ibrahim said, “The labour union should engage their sense of reason in negotiation. They should engage their conscience, patriotism, justice, and fairness in negotiation. Nigeria is a country that has more than 250 million people.
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“While they are negotiating for the workers who are less than 20 per cent of the population, they should also have feelings for the remaining 80 per cent of Nigerians who go to the same market with these workers, who have no one to pay them anything, and who are struggling to make ends meet.
“We agree, yes there is hardship in the land, but for God’s sake, when you are going to talk about your people, do so with a sense of equity. What is good for you is good for others. In a country where we have a lot of people who are unemployed, where the resources are not enough to go around, and you’re asking for N500,000 per month! I think that is unethical, unreasonable, and irrational.”
