We Share your Pains, Osinbajo Tells Angry Labour
The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, today has assured organized labour, that the government appreciates and acknowledges the relevance of workers in the country.
yemi osinbajo
The Vice president who represented his principal (Buhari) at the Workers’ Day made it clear that no reasonable person can underscore the relevance of workers in nation-building, but that previous administration cannot be extricated from the dire situation which the country has found itself.
Osinbajo noted that since the inception of this administration about N1.91trillion has gone into providing bailouts for states to pay workers as a result of the badly beaten economy.
According to him, Buhari also shares workers’ pain contrary to what naysayers believe.
According to the Vice President, “I salute and pay tribute to all Nigerian workers and working families. It is on your hard work, innovation, resilience and patriotism that our nation is building the structures for true greatness.
“I must also seize this opportunity to acknowledge the historical contributions of Nigerian working people and organized labour to the political, economic, social and cultural development of our nation.
“The Nigerian organized labour has always been at the forefront of the push for a better Nigeria, from the struggles for independence; right through to the clamour for the restoration of the democratic order, and, in the last 19 years, for the sustenance of the freedoms guaranteed by our democracy.
“I must also say that Nigerian organized labour has contributed actively towards helping Nigeria get out, in record time, of an economic recession arising from past economic mismanagement.
“This administration has remained committed to improving the welfare of the Nigerian people. When we came into office at least 22 states were owed salaries, some for a whole year.
“If you recall in November 2015, the President said and I quote, ‘all my life I have always earned a salary, so I understand what it means when your salary is not paid or when it is not enough’.
“Just last year, Mr. President, speaking to governors visiting him, again went back to the issue of salaries, I don’t know how any of you can go to sleep at night knowing that your workers have not been paid. The President’s concern for workers is not a theoretical or rhetorical one, but one borne out of experience and respect for the sweat of the working classes.
“This is why we evolved mechanisms to bail out all the 36 states of the federation, to the tune of N1.91 Trillion, in recognition of the shortfalls in their finances arising from the oil shocks of 2015/2016.
“We have extended this support regardless of party affiliation, to enable them to settle the backlog of arrears of salaries and pensions of workers. At the inauguration of the National Economic Council in 2015, President Buhari publicly declared that our Administration will extend support to every State, because poverty is no respecter of ethnic group, religion or party affiliation.
“While we do recognize that payment of salaries and pensions is essential; we are also conscious of the fact that the increasing cost of living and the recognition to ensure a fair and decent living wage has rendered the Minimum Wage Instrument obsolete.
“Accordingly, President Buhari inaugurated, on November 27, 2017, a Tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee to renegotiate the National Minimum Wage for our workers.
“As you are all aware, the subject of a National Minimum Wage for the Federation is within the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
“Although there are arguments regarding fixing minimum wage in a federation such as ours, it is the responsibility of government to establish the necessary social protection floor for all Nigerian workers based on the ability of each tier of Government to pay.
“The argument for a national minimum wage, therefore, cannot be faulted because minimum wage is the minimum amount of compensation an employee must receive for putting in his or her labour and as such should be anchored on the principles of social justice, equity, and fairness.” Osibanjo Concluded.
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