President Bola Tinubu has received praise from Nigerians for keeping his pledge to present an executive bill to the National Assembly on the new national minimum wage (NNMW), and they have urged him not to give up on the workers’ hopes.
They made this claim on Wednesday in response to the president’s nationwide broadcast honouring Nigeria’s 25 years of continuous democracy.
The presidential speech, according to former University of Ibadan vice-chancellor Prof. Idowu Olayinka, emphasised the significance of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which is thought to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
According to Olayinka, the election was deemed to be the most equitable and free one in Nigerian history.
Since the election was place some 31 years ago, most Nigerians under the age of 40 might not remember the events leading up to or following that date.
“It is satisfying that the president honoured all of the June 12 heroes, many of whom are no longer with us,” he remarked.
The former vice-chancellor added that Tinubu’s pledge to bring an executive bill on a new minimum wage to the national legislature as soon as possible will ease tensions among Nigerian labourers.
He argues that the bill is necessary because it is well acknowledged that workers in the public and private sectors of the economy need to be paid a livable wage in order to survive.
Additionally, Mr. Tunji Adepeju, a financial expert, praised the president’s speech, pointing out that it honoured those who gave their lives, their time, and their resources to pull the nation out of the dire circumstances of the day.
“As the President mentioned, a few of them were in exile for a while, and some of them lost their lives during that time, but here we are, 25 years later, enjoying democracy continuously,” he said.
Adepeju acknowledged his satisfaction with the president’s announcement that organised labour and the new minimum wage had reached some sort of accord.
That suggests that union leaders may not be providing us with accurate information.
All of the N250,000 and N494,000 that were being poured on the papers were ultimately merely demands that they did not personally believe in.
Simply enough, the figures were being presented to appease their members.
The president remarked, “Now, the labour leaders and others were part of the tripartite committee that look into the issue. They were fortunate that an agreement had been reached.”
The guarantee that Nigerians would ultimately be better off under Tinubu’s administration’s policies and plans was praised by the financial expert as a source of great happiness.
Adepeju pointed out that the president issued cautions to those attempting to undermine the advancements his administration was making, even as he declared he would take all necessary action.
He remarked, “I want to think that those people—politicians, bureaucrats, or businesspeople—would exercise some caution, going forward.”
A professor of education evaluation named Adams Onuka, however, claimed that other from praising the contributions made by some of the heroes of the democracy the nation is currently experiencing, he was unimpressed with the president’s speech.
According to Onuka, the speech just acknowledged in a subdued manner the difficult economic circumstances that Nigerians are currently facing.
“The president was unable to specify in his speech what the agreed-upon minimum wage and living wage were.
Not even a living salary was specified, nor was there a set minimum amount agreed upon.
I get the impression that this isn’t transparent enough.
“The speech would have outlined in specific terms the measures being taken to steer the country’s economy towards prosperity, as well as the dates and methods for realising it,” Onuka stated.
He emphasised that the president’s economic team needed to get together and discuss how to get out of the current mess.
“I felt that the speech fell short of my expectations and left a lot to be desired,” the don remarked. (NAN)
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