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In spite of President Bola Tinubu's promise to review the minimum wage as demanded by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the organised labour has vowed to proceed with its nationwide protest on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.
In his nationwide broadcast on Monday, July 31, 2023, President Tinubu assured workers that his government was already working with the labour union to introduce a new minimum wage.
The President also highlighted some of the intervention programmes he is coming up with to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.
But the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, has expressed doubts on the the sincerity of the interventions President Tinubu stated in the broadcast.
While addressing journalists after the resumed meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives, on Monday, at the State House, Abuja, Ajaero faulted Tinubu’s unification of the exchange rate.
He argued, “By the time you have a single market and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import driven, then how are you going to control it? How are you going to control somebody that exchanged dollars at about 900 (naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?
“How are you going to tell even NEPA (DisCos) today, with the cost of production not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18, 000 by February, now it’s about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”
He maintained that the union’s plan to proceed on a protest over the state of the country’s economy has not changed.
The labour leader also dismissed fears that the peaceful protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, saying security agencies have a responsibility to provide security for the workers during the protest.