The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has warned that unresolved concerns over workers’ welfare and the rising cost of living could trigger another round of industrial action.
Ajaero raised the concern while speaking on the Mic On Podcast, hosted by Seun Okinbaloye, where he criticised the Federal Government’s handling of issues affecting Nigerian workers.
The NLC president said the N70,000 minimum wage had been severely weakened by the rising cost of food, petrol, transportation and accommodation, arguing that wage increases alone could not improve workers’ welfare without a corresponding reduction in the cost of living.
He questioned the usefulness of a higher minimum wage if workers remained unable to afford basic necessities.
If I get N500,000 minimum wage, and I can’t pay my house rent, of what use?” Ajaero asked.
According to him, organised labour agreed to the N70,000 minimum wage after the government gave assurances that the effects of fuel subsidy removal would be mitigated through interventions including compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation, vehicle conversion kits and cash transfers.
However, Ajaero claimed that several of the promised measures had either not been fully implemented or had failed to provide sufficient relief to workers.
He also criticised the slow development of CNG infrastructure, noting that the limited availability of CNG buses and refuelling stations had prevented the initiative from significantly reducing transportation costs.
On the rising price of petrol, Ajaero argued that the product could be sold at a much lower price if crude oil produced in Nigeria were supplied to local refineries under favourable conditions.
The labour leader further accused the Federal Government of failing to adequately engage organised labour on key economic issues, warning that continued neglect of workers’ demands could lead to renewed confrontation between labour and the government.
Ajaero also criticised the economic positions of President Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, saying they all support market-driven economic policies.
Peter Obi, Atiku and Asiwaju (Tinubu), they all have the same position and they have shown that they are market people from the far right,” he said.
He maintained that the government’s claim of an emerging “age of prosperity” would only become meaningful when Nigerian workers begin to experience a tangible improvement in their standard of living.
