The government officials have not demonstrated cost savings because they continue to travel in “endless convoys” notwithstanding the effects of gasoline subsidy removal on the populace, according to Festus Osifo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
According to Comrade Osifo, it is time for politicians and the elite to make more sacrifices for the welfare of the country’s populace.
“For example, the convoys. You see governors, they are still going about, business as usual. You see the new legislatures, you see their convoys, it’s endless,” Osifo said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
Osifo also criticized the cost of government, focusing on the declining capital expenditure.
“Today, we still import all manner of cars from different parts of the world but you have some cars that are being manufactured in Nigeria. Why can’t you create policies that would encourage the manufacturing sector and also reduce the cost of governance?” he queried.
According to Osifo, Labour suggested N200,000 as the new minimum salary, up from N30,000, since it expected the government to float the naira and enable market forces to set the national currency’s exchange rate.
He contended that the value of N30,000 five years ago, when the minimum wage was last reviewed, has since decreased due to rising inflation rates, skyrocketing food prices, and transportation charges, among other factors.
According to him, the only subsidised commodity for the people was taken away. People are described as the simplest target.
“Nigerians are facing a lot of hardship all across, it is really hard and it is really terrible. You are asking the people to tighten their belts but at the end of the day, what have you brought to the table? What is the contribution of the political class to this economic logjam that we are today as a country?
“What we are saying is that if the Federal Government was not able to fund subsidy, at whose expense? What were the things they were doing with our funds? All the money that they have borrowed, the ways and means that went over 23 trillion naira – what did they do with it?” he asked.
The Labour leader noted that the Federal Government must explain to Nigerians what the borrowed funds were used for and why the country has such a high debt profile.
“They need to also offer explanations to Nigerians, not that at the slightest provocation, they push Nigerians to the streets and they tell them that we must tighten our belt meanwhile they are loosening theirs,” he said.
The TUC boss stated that these concerns are at the heart of the union’s discussions in sub-committees in order to develop a position that will alleviate Nigerians’ suffering.
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On Monday, the Federal Government resumed talks with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on steps to mitigate the effects of the elimination of the petrol subsidy on Nigerians.
Following a meeting with Federal Government representatives on June 5, labor unions suspended their planned strike to protest the withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy.
