…says meetings ongoing to finalise consequential adjustment on minimum wage
The minister of Labour and Employment, Nkeruka Onyejeocha on Friday, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was equally affected by the recent increase in petroleum products.
In a bid to calm the uproar that greeted her comment, Onyejeocha argued that President Tinubu was not only human, but he was also facing some logistic challenges as a result of scarce petroleum resources and financial constraints.
Speaking at a Town Hall engagement with organised labour and employers on “Imperatives of the Eight Point Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ‘s Administration,” in Abuja, the minister added that Tinubu was aware of the hardship in the country.
She said: ”The President is aware of the hardship that the increase in petrol pump price has melted to Nigerians in the last few days.
“It has brought hardship even to himself. The President is a human being. Let me tell you how it affects him; when he comes out there are no vehicles and sometimes they don’t get enough money to buy fuel. It affects everyone to be honest.
“So I plead with all of us to show more understanding and know that when one is down everybody is down. There is nobody that is affected and that is why we should all put our hands and our heads, everything together under one roof to find a way forward that will bring in meaningful result to the nation. I pray you show more understanding.”
Onyejeocha who stressed that the federal government would not take responsibility for the delay in payment of the new minimum wage as a result of failure of labour to finalise on the consequential adjustment, however said there was hope as separate meetings were ongoing by government and the tripartite committee.
“As we speak there’s a meeting on government side this morning on the new minimum wage and consequential adjustment.
Peoplesmind
