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‘I Forced Tinubu To Pay Above Minimum Wage When He Was Governor’ – Oshiomhole

Published

2 months ago

Nov 1, 2024.

The senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, says as President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, he declared a massive strike to force the Lagos state government under Bola Tinubu to pay above the N5,000 minimum wage.

Oshiomhole said he fought some government policies under President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure the dignity and respect of Nigerian workers.

He made this statement at the National Institute of Security Studies, Abuja, during a lecture organised for members of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 17.

While speaking in the lecture titled: “National Minimum Wage: Reward System and Productivity in Africa”, the former NLC boss said that an unskilled worker could earn as much as $2,560 in a month in California.

He urged the federal government and his colleagues in the Senate to work on the laws that would ensure that workers were properly remunerated according to the work done as it is done in the advanced countries.

According to him, poor remuneration has been the major factor responsible for the present ‘Japa’ syndrome being faced by the country, adding that only proper laws on remuneration in place would curb the trend.

“A serious employer of labour should not pay minimum wage. They should pay much more. A major employer like the civil service should not pay the minimum wage, I expect that the federal government will over time adjust its minimum wage.

“When I was NLC president, we agreed that oil-producing states like Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, and those who have a huge revenue, should pay not less than 7,000 minimum wage, same as federal,” he said.

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