By Taiwo Olapade<\/b><\/p>\n
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigeria Employers\u2019 Consultative Association (NECA), and former President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, have commended the governments of Imo and Ebonyi States for their recent decision to increase workers\u2019 salaries.<\/p>\n
The Imo State Government recently announced an increase in workers\u2019 pay to \u20a6104,000\u2014\u20a634,000 above the \u20a670,000 minimum wage\u2014while Ebonyi State added \u20a620,000 across board for its workforce.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the seventh quadrennial delegates\u2019 conference of the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, described the move as highly commendable. He noted that the decision vindicated the NLC\u2019s long-standing demand for better wages.<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cIf states like Imo can pay \u20a6100,000 and above, considering that it is not among the highest earners in terms of revenue allocation, then other states should be encouraged to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporting Ajaero\u2019s stance, the NLC Chairperson in Lagos, Comrade Funmi Sessi, welcomed the development, expressing hope that other governors would take a cue from Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.<\/p>\n
She added that Lagos Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had earlier promised improved welfare for workers, noting that the time has come for an upward review of salaries in the state. \u201cAt least someone has taken the bull by the horns and opened the space for others to copy a good example,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Sessi stressed that Lagos workers deserve higher wages and better working conditions in line with current economic realities, especially with rising inflation. She revealed that the Lagos NLC chapter is prepared to engage the state government towards securing salary increases and improved welfare packages.<\/p>\n
On his part, NECA\u2019s Director-General, Mr. Smart Oyerinde, said the decision by both states reflects recognition of workers\u2019 contributions to Nigeria\u2019s socio-economic development. He argued that with the sustained rise in federal allocations to states, improved welfare for workers is now both necessary and achievable.<\/p>\n
Also reacting, former TUC President, Mr. Peter Esele, described the gesture as a clear show of love for workers. He emphasized that such measures will not only improve living standards but also enhance productivity across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Taiwo Olapade The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Nigeria Employers\u2019 Consultative Association (NECA), and former President of the Trade<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-grassroots"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16688,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16687\/revisions\/16688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}