Abuja, Feb. 27, 2024: The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) says there is urgent need to hasten conversations on the new national minimum wage for it to be passed into law.
Mr Festus Osifo, TUC President said this at a news conference on the state of the nation on Monday in Abuja.
Osifo said that there is increase in the rates of hunger and hardship faced by the Nigerian workers, the general populace and the masses of the country.
According to him, early passage and faithful implementation of the new minimum wage by government at all levels and the private sector would increase the disposable income of workers and thus their purchasing power.
He said for the past few weeks the congress had delved into the root causes of the economic challenges in the country and had identified possible solutions to reduce the difficulties.
Osifo identified uncontrolled Naira devaluation and insecurity across the country as the major causes of the economic challenges.
He said TUC had proposed immediate, medium term and long term solutions to the challenges.
The solutions according to him, included , fixing the real value of Naira, deliberate steps to address the allegation that sub nationals throw billions of dollars monthly into the parallel market and dollarisation of political party primaries and electioneering.
The solutions also included the clampdown on speculative trading in the foreign exchange market, patronising made in Nigeria goods, strengthening the Economic Management Team and curbing crude oil theft, among others.
He said the congress believed that when all the solutions proffered above were implemented, the current challenges faced by Nigerian workers and indeed the downtrodden would ease off within the shortest possible time.
He said the TUC would submit the document to government with a view to engaging them on how to develop a framework for the implementation.
Osifo reiterated that the TUC would not be joining the two- days nationwide protest called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for Feb. 27 and 28.
He said that the TUC was never part of the process, meeting and declaration of embarking on streets protest against the economic hardship by the NLC.
