The Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has blasted Nigerian governors following their rejection of N60,000 minimum wage proposal and offering of N57,000 as the amount they can pay to workers.....Read The Full Story Here ▶
The position of Primate Ayodele was contained In a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, on Sunday.
In the statement, he stated that Nigerian governors are heartless and inhumane for not making efforts to make the lives of workers better.
He made it known that the proposed N57,000 cannot work because it won’t be enough for anyone to handle the hardship in the country.
He revealed that the little amount workers get paid is the reason insecurity persists in several states across the country.
He called on the governors to review the payment for workers instead of frustrating efforts to make their lives better.
Ayodele said: “Our governors are heartless.
“Paying N57,000 as minimum wage in this present time is like punishing workers because there is serious hardship in this country.
“The proposed amount cannot work because they also can’t accept such a ridiculous amount.
“They collect security votes and allocate different payments to themselves but to pay a meagre amount as minimum wage has become a problem for them.
“This is one of the reasons insecurity persists in our states because when a security man is paid below expectation, he will collect money from bandits to operate.
“The salaries of workers need to be reviewed because governors and politicians get paid well handsomely.
“The people in government know the pain of the people but it’s sad that they are frustrating efforts to make it better.”
On the part of the labour unions, that is the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, Primate Ayodele condemned them for shutting down the national grid in a demonstration due to the minimum wage.
He described the action as one that can claim the lives of innocent Nigerians.
Going forward, the prophet advised the unions to be mindful of their actions during demonstrations.
He said: Shutting down the national grid is totally condemned; it’s something that can cost the lives of innocent Nigerians.
“The unions should know how to express their grievances by not affecting other Nigerians.
“Shutting down the national grid only affected innocent Nigerians.”
Furthermore, Primate Ayodele advised President Bola Tinubu to work on price control because hardship would persist even with an increased minimum wage if the prices of commodities are not well managed.
He urged the President not to play politics with the workers’ request.
He said: “Tinubu must not play with the worker’s minimum wage.
“Their initial request was too much but they have come down to a reasonable level now and I want to advise President Tinubu not to play politics with it by trying to divide them.
“However, let there be price control because without it, minimum wage is zero no matter the amount.”