Sen. Wakili urges FG to increase minimum wage

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare, Ali Wakili, has urged the Federal Government to increase minimum wage to enable workers cope with prevailing economic situation in the country. Wakili made the call when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja. He said that while minimum wage […]

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare, Ali Wakili, has urged the Federal Government to increase minimum wage to enable workers cope with prevailing economic situation in the country.

Wakili made the call when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

He said that while minimum wage had remained at N18, 000, prices of goods and services had continued to rise.

According to him, the development has made life unbearable for many Nigerians, particularly workers.

Although the lawmaker commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s effort at repositioning the economy, he said that the government had not fared well in workers’ welfare.

He, therefore, called on the government to make tackling challenges facing workers in the country a priority.

He added that the government should endeavor to create an enabling environment for the workers to feel the impact of any increment in wages.

“We need to address underlining issues to make the increase felt by the workers.

“Without an enabling environment, the increment will be an exercise in futility because they will not feel it.

“Prices of goods in the market are very high; healthcare facilities are not available and where they are available, workers pay through their noses.

“Once we are able to address these things, the wage increase will be meaningful to everybody.

“We can do the two side-by-side; while we are addressing the wage issue, there should also be an enabling environment,’’ he said.

On security, Wakili commended the military for tackling insurgency.

According to him, the security situation in the country has improved to the extent that people go about their daily activities relatively relaxed.

“The security situation in Nigeria is known to everybody. Two years ago, coming to your premises would have been difficult because you would have deployed the anti-bomb equipment to check me.

“I would have been cautious of people around me as well because there was palpable fear of the unknown among us.

“I think the scourge of insurgency has been virtually crushed. What the military is doing now is mop-up of those of them that must have escaped into urban areas.

“Today people walk into places freely and a lot of barricades have been removed from strategic places.

“It shows that the security situation is stable and we thank God for that,’’ Wakili, who is also Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Air Force, he said.

He said that the Air force had the greatest task of supporting the army in bringing insurgency to an end.

He commended the Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, for his effort to reposition the force through infrastructural development.

Wakili said, “The Air force, before the assumption of the present Chief of Air Staff, had a very bad image.

“It is without doubt that he is doing his best to reposition the force and it is very commendable.

“The institutions he set up in Makurdi, Kaduna and other places, prompted the National Assembly to go on oversight to one of the institutions called Air force Institute of Technology.

“It is commendable that with the little resources, he is able to come up with this level of development.’’ (NAN)