A senior member of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Jesutega Onokpasa, while speaking on the strike that was called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) due to disparities in negotiation for a new minimum wage, said President Bola Tinubu is not the problem, but labour leaders just lack proper negotiation skills.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday night, the lawyer advised the leaders to get someone professional to aid the negotiation.
Onokpasa said, “The negotiations did not fail. The problem is that the top labour leaders lack negotiating skill. That’s the bitter truth. You don’t run away from the negotiating table.”
He emphasised that the trade union approach of using strikes is ineffective, claiming that the real impact of the strike is felt by the people, because most of them survive on “daily earnings”.
Regarding the state of the economy, he pledged Tinunu’s innocence, asserting that he met the challenges and is trying his best.
“We have challenges, which were not caused by Bola Tinubu. There is nothing that exercises Bola Tinubu more than breaking down the cost of living,” he said.
Onokpasa noted that a minimum wage of over 400 thousand is “simply living in a dream land”.
He acknowledged that the suggested minimum wage by the government is low and “the increase will depend on negotiations. It is not for people who drive a car that isbworth 200million to be pretending to be fighting for the Nigerian workers.”
Further speaking, he pointed out that strike should be the “last resort” because they had not exhausted the negotiation process, which makes it an “illegal strike.”
“Their problem should be how to get a higher minimum wage for workers, not to go on strike. Labour should be looking for a minimum wage affordable to employers but is reasonable enough to improve the life of workers,” he added.
Onokpasa highlighted that he thinks the agenda of the labour union leaders is political. He said, “Their candidate lost election and that’s the problem. It is political.”
Nancy Mbamalu
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