Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero has said President Bola Tinubu’s much-publicised promise of an “age of prosperity” has yet to translate into better living conditions for Nigerian workers.
Ajaero, who spoke on the Mic On Podcast hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, said rising costs of petrol, food, transportation and accommodation had significantly reduced the purchasing power of the N70,000 minimum wage.
“Prosperity is not with the Nigerian worker,” Ajaero said, while expressing hope that the government’s promise could eventually become a reality.
The NLC president noted that even though the rate of inflation may be slowing, Nigerians were still dealing with the elevated prices created during earlier periods of high inflation.
He said organised labour agreed to the N70,000 minimum wage partly because of assurances from the Federal Government that the impact of petrol subsidy removal would be mitigated through interventions including compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation, vehicle conversion kits, cash transfers and other measures.
According to him, several of the promised interventions have either not been fully implemented or have failed to provide workers with significant relief.
Ajaero argued that improving workers’ welfare required more than increasing nominal salaries, stressing that the cost of living and the value of the naira were equally important.
“If I get N500,000 minimum wage, and I can’t pay my house rent, of what use?” he asked.
On petrol prices, Ajaero said the cost of Premium Motor Spirit could fall to about N500 per litre if locally produced crude oil were supplied to domestic refineries at favourable rates.
He also criticised what he described as the slow development of CNG infrastructure, saying the limited availability of CNG buses and refuelling stations had done little to reduce transportation costs for Nigerians.
The labour leader further accused the Federal Government of failing to adequately engage organised labour on issues affecting workers, warning that unresolved concerns over wages and welfare could lead to industrial action.
Ajaero also criticised the economic positions of Tinubu, ADC’s Atiku Abubakar and NDC’s Peter Obi on petrol subsidy removal.
He argued that the three politicians share similar market-oriented economic positions.
“Peter Obi, Atiku and Asiwaju (Tinubu), they all have the same position and they have shown that they are market people from the far right,” Ajaero said.
