Trade Union Congress, TUC, has disclosed its resolve to demand wage increase for workers in the New Year in line with the devaluation of the nation’s currency by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
Disclosing this at the end of the National Executive Council Meeting of the Congress in the early hours of Sunday in Lagos, TUC national president, Bobboi Kaigama, argued that wage hike had become expedient because the current devaluation had started impacting negatively on Nigerian workers.
According to him, “the issue of wage is a dynamic thing. In stabilised economies, wages are directly proportional to the inflation trend of that country.
“So, it is expected that following the devaluation of the naira and its resultant rise in inflation, salaries of workers should automatically be increased too.
“But in this country, even after devaluation of the currency, there will not be any increase in workers’ salary and that is bad.
“The moment devaluation is put in place the prices of goods and services surge, there should be a proportional increase in the workers’ pay,” he pointed out.
Kaigama consequently noted that, “if the issue on devaluation persist, the Congress will have no option but to enter the New Year with a demand for increase in workers’ pay”. Arguing that the fall in crude oil price in the international market should be translated into a fall in the price of refined products in the country, the TUC boss explained that the price of petrol should be brought down to N50 per litre.
“If government says that the price of crude oil has fallen in the global market, it means that the price of products will also fall in the country.
“If truly we are working with the dynamics of market principles, we expect that the price of products should drop.
“We want N50 per litre for oil,” the union leader asserted.
Kaigama went on to threaten that the continued delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill by the National Assembly would leave his comrades and other Nigerians with no option but to effect a corresponding action.
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