The Ogun State chapter of Organised Labour (NLC) has called on the State government to implement a N150,000 minimum wage for civil servants, aiming to alleviate the economic hardship impacting workers’ quality of life.
They demanded prompt salary payments, provision of CNG buses for transportation at subsidised fares, and quarterly release and payment of retirement gratuities, among other benefits.
This follows the approval of a new minimum wage of N104,000 by Imo State governor, Hope Uzodinma and N90,000 by Ebonyi State governor, Francis Nwifuru, respectively.The union made the demand in a letter addressed to Governor Dapo Abiodun through the Office of the Head of Service, where they submitted their demand for a wage increase, titled “Plea for Consideration of Upward Review of the New Minimum Wage.”
The letter was signed by the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comr. Akeem Lasisi; Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) Comrade Ademola Hameed-Benco; Joint Negotiating Council(JNC), Isa Olude; NLC’s Secretary, Chris Omoneh, TUC’s Secretary, Com. Olusegun Adebiyi and JNC’s Secretary, Comrade Olayemi Oloyede.
The workers called on the state government to consider a 100% increase of the current N77,000 minimum wage, attributing skyrocketing inflation and the cost of food items affecting their basic needs as major reasons for their new demands.
They called on the Abiodun-led administration to come to their rescue and accede to the request of N150,000 minimum wage, just like the Imo and Ebonyi State governments did to workers in their respective states, to cushion the effects of the economic downturn on their day-to-day needs.
The workers, who appealed to the governor to save them from hunger and untold hardship occasioned by fuel subsidy removal and instability of foreign exchange rate, said that the State government, with the huge increase from the allocation received from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and its Internally Generated Revenue(IGR), could pay the amount.
They said that the dwindling purchasing power of consumption of essential goods and the cost of transportation, as well as the daily struggle to afford basic necessities and make ends means, had made the N77,000 minimum wage not sustainable for them.