PUNCH
The Nigeria Labour Congress said on Thursday that President Bola Tinubu betrayed organised labour, using the price of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly called petrol, as bait.
The organised labour stated that at the negotiation which informed the acceptance of N70,000 by the organised labour, President Tinubu offered the option not to increase the petrol price.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said this during the opening of a two-day workshop in Lagos titled “Minimum Wage Implementation Workshop, Southern Zone.”
Ajaero said there were attempts to distract the attention of the labour movement with allegations of “cybercrime, financing terrorism, sponsoring terrorism and the rest.”
Ajaero noted that the current cost of petrol has undermined the benefits of the yet-to-be-implemented N70,000 national minimum wage, urging the government to urgently address the pressing issues of hunger, poverty, and frustration affecting Nigerians.
Ajaero recounted discussions with President Tinubu before the acceptance of the N70,000 minimum wage, stating that during negotiations, President Tinubu offered the option of accepting the N70,000 wage without further increase in fuel prices.
He added that alternatively, the president had given them a choice between accepting a higher wage of N250,000 and an increase in the pump price of fuel.
Ajaero said the labour movement opted for the choice of N70,000 considering the plight that further increases in fuel price would have on the masses should labour settle for a wage of N250,000.
“There is a tactic to distract our attention, to call us names, level allegations against us over cybercrime, financing terrorism, sponsoring terrorism and the rest.
“Those things have paid off because while we are facing those allegations, this issue of pump price has remained.
