Re: The Minimum Wage Strike: Righteousness Exalts A Nation, Hypocrisy Doesn’t

BY AARE KOLA OYEFESO

Both parties being the Government and Labour are not sincere and it is a wonder why the Labour Movement feels it is only the minimum wage that should concern them.

How do we explain the Labour not calling for strike when Government had no qualms buying N150 million SUV each for its lawmakers, dashed judiciary and legislators billions of naira when they didn’t ask for it, got the Senate President to allocate humongous amount that runs into hundreds of billion naira into the budget for his constituency and the same Senate President was the one negotiating a paltry N60,000 minimum wage for the workers. It is utterly bizarre.

The Labour leaders feared no better and not sincere with their ‘Chop I chop’ agitation. They are asking for such an unrealistic, ridiculous, unreasonable and scandalous figure of N490,000 for the minimum wage, simply because the Executive and Legislators are living in affluence.

For crying out loud, for Government to pay even N100,000 as minimum wage is an invitation for further devaluation of the Naira and coming in its wake is a compounded inflation which is going to be a child’s play to what we are currently experiencing.

The fish rots from the head therefore, frugality must start at the top of Government as it is wicked for our leaders to be living in opulence that bears no relevance to the state of our economy yet, expect the workers to feed from the pigsty.

We pray and hope uncommon sense would prevail and Government will reduce cost of governance, the legislators will do away with their take home pecks especially newspapers and wardrobe allowance thereby earning the credibility to sincerely negotiate a living wage with the Labour leaders.

The maxim is Verbum Sapienti Est.

–Aare Dr Kola Oyefeso is an Employer of labour and Nigeria’s Pioneer of Transformers’ Engineering