By Emmanuel Mogbede
The Democratic Front (TDF) has described the successful intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the long standing crisis over a new national minimum wage as a great relief for Nigerians.
The TDF, a political pressure group, said this in a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Danjuma Muhammad and Secretary Wale Adedayo, on Saturday in Abuja.
The group said Tinubu’s intervention on the issue was a reflection of his solid time-tested negotiation skills and the political will to get things done, even when confronted with a dead end.
“We welcome the cheery news of the resolution of the lingering minimum wage crisis and the role played by President Tinubu in breaking the deadlock,” the group said.
The group noted that it took the intervention of Tinubu to break the impasse between Federal Government officials and that of organised labour.
This, the TDF said was after the tripartite committee formed to look into the matter completed its six-month assignment without all parties reaching an agreement.
“What better way could anyone describe a situation where the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and that of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) gave the President a standing ovation as soon as the deal was sealed,”it said.
The group added that the President therefore deserved credit for staving off a potential labour crisis, which could had impacted negatively on the country’s economy.
It recalled that the faceoffs between organised labour and the Federal Government was always rooted in a series of multi-dimensional trajectory that had impacted negatively on national productivity.
“Whenever we remember in retrospect the exemplary role President Tinubu played in 2016, as a non state actor to prevail on the then Ayuba Wabbara-led NLC to call off an active nationwide strike over the national minimum wage.
“Our confidence in his ability to successfully break the impasse was never in doubt and we were indeed proved right.
“So we believe the President deserved to be appreciated for the manner he got the two labour centres to shift ground.
“From their earlier wage demand of 250,000 to accept the new offer of N70,000 by the Federal Government in spite of its consequences on the recurrent expenditure,” the group said.
The group also applauded President Tinubu for his unwavering determination to cushion the effects of subsidy removal by going beyond wage increase.
This, it said he did by allocating N100 billion for the purchase of CNG buses and CNG conversion kits across Nigeria, and providing N125 billion to energise MSMEs.
The group said Tinubu’s intervention measure of N185 billion palliative loans to all state of the federation should equally be appreciated within the same context.
“We, however, know that some people have been calculating the new minimum wage in dollar terms without considering Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
“But we make bold to say, for instance that the Naira equivalent of 100 dollar can buy a lot more in Nigeria than what same amount can get in any American city,”it said.
The group added that the new minimum wage should be viewed from local perspectives, which labour obviously acceded to by accepting the President’s offer.
It urged organised labour to continue to cooperate with the Federal Government in order to make ongoing reforms a success.(NAN)
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