N56,000 wage: A joke or what?

As workers in Nigeria suffer one of the bleakest May Days in recent times, one is left wondering why Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has chosen such a time of sober reflections to crack an unwholesome joke by presenting a new proposal for a N56,000 minimum wage? I strongly believe that NLC just want to have […]

As workers in Nigeria suffer one of the bleakest May Days in recent times, one is left wondering why Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has chosen such a time of sober reflections to crack an unwholesome joke by presenting a new proposal for a N56,000 minimum wage?
I strongly believe that NLC just want to have their own share of national cake using this unrealistic proposal so that they will deftly and smoothly went into negotiation with the Federal Government.
Indeed some screws must have sprung loose in the heads of the NLC leaders lest how does one contemplate a new minimum wage when the old one of N18,000 has failed to obtain widespread coverage.
With 26 states owing three or more months salaries, agitating for a new minimum wage amidst a neck breaking financial crisis is disingenuously and foolhardy.
The Nigerian worker has become an endangered species as State Governors prefer to divert funds supposed to pay workers towards projects like mansions and palatial Government Houses.
As noble as their argument sounds, one wonders if market women will keep their prices fixed once they hear civil servants have been granted the new minimum wage.
Inflation will only catch up and overtake the earnings of these workers who will only earn this amount on paper but will never see the fruits of their labour which will be siphoned off to fund the extravagant lifestyle of the ruling elite.
The NLC should consider introspection and end this talk of things that are not feasible.
N56,000 minimum wage? A joke that only a jokers can dream of.
Usman Mohammed, IBBU, Lapai-Niger State