Minimum Wage: Ex-Imo Commissioner accuses Labour of insensitivity

Ex-Commissioner in Imo State, Prof. Vitalis Orikeze Ajumbe has accused the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, of insensitivity for demanding the sum of N250,000 minimum wage.

Ajumbe who was the Commissioner for Internally Generated Revenue, IGR and Pensions, described the Unions’ demands as unrealistic and unsustainable.

Speaking to Journalists on Saturday in Abuja, Prof Ajumbe, submitted that Labour Unions ought to have demanded the revival of the Ajaokuta Steel Industry and other critical infrastructure that improves internally generated revenue, rather than pushing for unrealistic demand.

Even the N62,000 naira already proposed by the Federal government to Labour, Ajumbe said, was under duress, claiming that some governments don’t have the revenue to pay the wage.

He said: “The government should not be pushed to accept what they know they cannot handle, how many states can pay, how much is their IGR that can pay.

“If you use all the money for salary, then there will be no infrastructure or development, I was the Commissioner for IGR, and it will be difficult for states to pay 62,000 Naira, it will create higher inflation and job losses.

“The price of goods will go up, house rent will increase and civil servants will go to their villages, what about the artisans that are not covered, does it mean that the private sector will not pay it? It will lead to job loss which is not good. Let me ask the labour president how much he is paying his driver, gateman and cook.

“Labour should concentrate more on issues that will make the government cut down corruption.

The former state chairman of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP noted that the federal and state governments should not be stampeded into accepting what it knows it can’t pay.