‘Why Buhari must keep his word’

FORMER vice president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar yesterday cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari against reneging on the implementation of the new minimum wage as recommended by the wage review committee.

He said that a government must be trusted to keep its word.

In a statement by his campaign office – the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCO) — the former vice president said the President must keep faith with the agreement his government freely reached with labour and affirm the new minimum wage.

The statement titled: Minimum wage: A government must be trusted to keep its word”, reads: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement from the Presidency denying President Buhari’s earlier pledge to pay the new minimum wage of N30,000 agreed with the Nigerian Labour Congress and other labour affiliates in a signed communiqué…..

“A government is only as reliable as its word and if its word is not reliable then nothing else about the government will be stable.

“At the risk of repeating ourselves, we urge the Buhari administration to note that Nigerian workers are the goose that lays the golden egg that top members of this government are enjoying to the detriment of those laying the egg.”

Alleging that President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo collect a hardship allowance of 50 per cent of their annual basic salary, the APCO said: “Whereas, the long suffering Nigerian workers, who are the main sufferers of the hardship caused by the incompetence of this administration, do not have any hardship allowance and are expected to live on the unliveable minimum wage.

“We can only change this by paying our workers a living wage as opposed to the starvation wages now paid to them.

“We therefore call on President Muhammadu Buhari to keep faith with the agreement his government freely reached with labour and affirm the new minimum wage.”

Also yesterday, United Labour Congress (ULC) President Joe Ajaero yesterday said Labour expects the National Assembly to fast-track action on the passage of the New National Minimum Wage once transmitted to it from the Presidency.

Ajaero said Labour does not expect the implementation of the N30, 000 new minimum wage to exceed a month.

He said: “We believe that money should not be a problem. If Appropriation Bill can be made on certain matters, minimum wage should also receive such attention.”

He advised Nigerians to continue to keep faith with the struggle, adding that no positive change would be achieved without Labour’s intervention.