The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the federal government to resume the payment of the N35,000 wage award promised to workers by President Tinubu during his Independence Day address to the nation.
Addressing reporters after the National Executive Council meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, Mr. Festus Osifo, President of TUC, remarked that President Tinubu’s announcement of the N35,000 wage award on October 1 as a six-month palliative for workers, following the fuel subsidy removal, was only executed once.
The payment, part of the agreement between the Federal Government and organized labour, has not been repeated since October, as stated by Osifo.
- He said, “We wish to call on the government to fast-track all the processes. We learnt that they are currently putting some things in place to pay and people are not ready to listen to excuses.
- “We want them to remove all the bottlenecks that are being experienced today regarding the wage award and to continuously pay.
- “We also wish to call on the respective state governments to do the same and have agreed to pay the N35,000 wage. I want to say kudos to them.”
He urged the private sector to fulfil its obligations regarding the wage award.
Nigeria’s debt situation
Usifo stated that during the NEC session, they took note of Tinubu’s recently submitted budget to the National Assembly.
He expressed concern over the state of the debt, which continues to increase, posing a significant burden.
- He stated, “This year’s budget is also at a deficit and the level of borrowing is growing daily and the amount of money we require to keep servicing this debt is growing daily.
- “This is in such a way that the amount of money we require to service the debt is not catching up with our national revenue and this is problematic.”
He urged the Federal government to promptly address the issue.
Need for fiscal prudence
The TUC President emphasized the ongoing suffering of the people due to the prevailing hardships in the country.
He called on governments at all levels to exercise fiscal prudence in managing the scarce resources of the country.
Resources are not scarce they are stealing the resources; the political leadership is responsible for the ugly situation nigeria find itself. The government pay the wage award, when the president made the announcement on October 1st 2023 it was not on gun point just as nobody forced President to announce removal of oil subsidy without having a solution to the problem it will create for the good citizenry before his announcement. Let government implement the content of the circular it release after that announcement with immediate effect without any further…. Nigeria belongs to us all.