Adams Oshiomhole, a former chair of the All Progressives Congress, has criticized the strike action being implemented by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, saying that the focus should have been on the state governments that are not yet paying the national minimum wage of N30,000.
While congratulating Vice President Kashim Shettima on the party’s victories in Kogi and Imo states, Oshiomhole implied that the strike by the Joe Ajaero-led leadership was misguided during their meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said that union bosses had the right to their own political views, but that they must draw the line if doing so will interfere with their primary duties.
Sen. Adams Oshiomhole of the 10th National Assembly called “arm-chair critics” those who predicted the collapse of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State.
The present nationwide industrial action by the organized labor has temporarily paralyzed social and economic operations, prompting Oshiomhole’s responses.
To quote him directly: “As a worker in the Senate, I don’t pretend over the fact that my primary constituency, my permanent constituency, is labor. I was already ousted as chairman of APC, thus it’s possible to do so again. As a laborer, however, I was ineligible for dismissal. The work I put into my thoughts, beliefs, and goals has not changed.
Even as we speak, we still have states that are not paying N30,000, therefore I anticipate that this will be a topic that interests me. And there is no organized effort to cause a walkout in those states.
The increment of N35,000 was sanctioned by the federal government. It was expected that all Nigerian government employees, from the federal level down to the states and municipalities, would have a voice in those talks.
on behalf of all Nigerian workers, including those at the federal, state, and municipal levels.
State and municipal governments eventually benefit from the federal government’s funding cutbacks. Now, I wish someone over at the NLC would have realized that federal workers’ hunger isn’t any worse than that of state workers’ or local government workers’.
Senator or not, if these are the issues at hand, I will publicly back action against any government that believes we should lament our hunger away while the people do what they do. Those are not the reasons for the strike, though. Because there are so many problems that workers face, I believe that addressing those problems should take precedence above whatever political beliefs that we may have.
Mismob Media