FG Stopped N35,000 Wage Increase After One Month, TUC Alleges
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has accused the Federal Government of not adhering to its agreement to pay a six-month wage award to workers, alleging it stopped after the first month.
TUC President Festus Osifo made the allegations in an interview with Arise Television on Monday.
The N35,000 wage increase for all treasury-paid federal government workers for six months was agreed upon following consultations with the Federal Government delegation that met with the leadership of TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress on Sunday. October 1, 2023.
The wage increase was aimed at mitigating the resulting economic hardship after the removal of fuel subsidies, However, according to Osifo, the government abruptly ceased payments after the first month, leaving workers in the lurch.
Osifo slammed the government’s lack of commitment to its agreements, stating “If you’ve signed an agreement and you’re finding it difficult to implement, what you do normally is for you to call the other party, and you sit down together. But we don’t even think that is the challenge, we don’t think that is the problem.
“Because today, you could see from the federation account how much they share every month, it has doubled compared to the figures that they were sharing or the amount of money that they were sharing as of April/May.
“Today, they share trillions of naira; that shows that even if the value of this money has plummeted, even if the value has gone down, but the physical note is there, the volume has actually gone up.
“So, they could actually take care of this. It is not because they don’t have revenue, but it is the will for them to actually do what is right. You know very well, that as at when this government came in, the exchange rate was somewhere around N450 to a dollar. But today, officially, it is over N900, which is times two. That has actually made the government to be earning more money.”
Osifo also revealed that the 10-point agenda, agreed upon with the government, has remained unsigned.
He stated the agreement contained a provision for a consent judgment, but it still needs to be placed before the court, adding that there are provisions in the agreement that the union felt the government needed to implement fully.
“It is left for the government to tell us the reason why they have not taken that document to court, it’s left for them. But for us, our responsibility is to hold them accountable to be sure and certain that every statement in that agreement as agreed with them must be implemented.”
The TUC president noted that the 10-point agenda is meant to address the suffering of the average Nigerian due to high rising prices due to inflation, the removal of fuel subsidies, and other economic challenges.
