Minimum Wage: Father Mbaka Addresses Govs, Lawmakers

• Mbaka says Governors & Lawmakers should also earn minimum wage
• Salaries of members of the national assembly shrouded in secrecy, Mbaka said
• Priest warns against pushing Nigerians to rebellion

Eko Hot Blog reports that Catholic priest Ejike Mbaka said governors and members of the national assembly should also earn the N62,000 minimum wage proposed by the Federal Government.

Mbaka stated this while speaking in an interview with AIT on Saturday.

Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had embarked on an indefinite strike since the federal government could not meet their demand for a new minimum wage.

The federal government and organised labour subsequently resumed negotiations on June 6 — where the new wage was proposed.

Speaking on the development, Mbaka said Salaries of members of the national assembly have been shrouded in secrecy, eliciting speculation and debate from Nigerians.

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Mbaka said, “We can push these poor Nigerians to the point of rebellion. That is my fear. All of us were in Lagos that day, we couldn’t come back.

“Just like a joke the labour people entered into the airport and stopped every operation and if this happen again it might tantamount to what nobody dreams or what we dream but out of fear we cannot release to the public.

“If we decide to give labour N60,000 or N62,000, why not generalise it to the house of assembly members, senatorial members, house of Representative members, and governors?

”All of them are civil servants. So, are the others slaves? I cannot imagine why somebody can be amassing billions and billions as sitting allowance, wardrobe allowance, newspaper allowance, vehicle allowance and what they call suffering allowance.

“The people that should have such allowances should be the poor masses in the villages.

“As teachers, how much are they being paid? Our nurses and doctors, how much are they being paid? Let us be realistic, our civil servants that wake from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

“They wake up early and return late. How much are they being paid. And look at the level of inflation in the country.”

Mbaka asked the government to “speedily” address the minimum wage issue with the organised labour to avoid another strike.

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