The lawmaker representing Lagos Central Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Oluremi Tinubu, has stated her stand on the lingering issue of new minimum wage for Nigerian workers.
Tinubu said she is in support that workers should be taken care of, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari is also in support of the proposed N30,000 minimum wage.
Speaking with Vanguard at the weekend, Tinubu also said that Lagos State was always ready to pay any amount agreed by the President Buhari administration.
Asked about her position on the new minimum wage, Mrs. Tinubu said, “My antecedents will tell you that I was in the trenches with my husband and I have been through a lot. I am with the people and relate well with the boys and girls on the streets.
“These are the people that will show you their voter’s cards. I owe them much. I speak their language. At times when they come home to tell my husband and he says my wife doesn’t talk like that, I just look!
“Sometimes when I speak their language, they will say, why are you talking like us? Like yesterday. I will speak truth to them like a mum and they listen! I was there, I asked why are you all smoking weeds here?
“The audacity with which crime is being perpetuated in our society is alarming. Am I scared? No! And that is the soul and heart of a comrade. Whatever I wear, they all trust me and believe that I am with their cause, I understand their pain and do the bit that I can for them.
“On the minimum wage, I will say that I support people to be taken care of. Leadership is about sacrifice and I believe that the president too supports the minimum wage.
“If all of the big executives can cut down on their allowances, we can make it. You know Lagos does not have such problem, they will pay and that was why I said even my Work Experience Programme, I am going to pay even more than the monthly minimum wage and this will come through my salaries and allowances.
“If I am going to take like 100 youths, I will look for good corporate organizations that can employ them, they don’t have to pay them, but they will just come in as interns and I could pay them about N40,000 for lunch and transport and to dress well to go.
“That could be my contribution. Like the boy we set up a barber shop for, somebody gave me a slot to go to Mecca, I gave it to him! So, I have to change one life at a time, it doesn’t have to be a lot, but if I am in the executive, maybe I can do more, but as a legislator, your hands are tied.”
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