Deputy President of the NLC Comrade Joe Ajaero in a press statement yesterday said labour will not accept the reversal of the N18, 000 minimum wage, stressing that labour and its allies would “have no choice but to resist” any such move.
Ajaero said, “NLC notes statements in the past few days by government officials which point to an intent to further increase the price of fuel and deepen the poverty of the people.
“The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had declared that the excess crude fund had been depleted to $3.6Billion and that Nigerians should brace for hard times especially if the prices of crude oil were to take a dip.
“The Central Bank Governor Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had made the hints clearer when in a follow-up statement at the weekend in New York, he said a reduction in the price of crude oil would lead to a massive depreciation of the currency, a collapse in the reserves and a huge growth in deficits. With this, he declared that many states would be unable to pay salaries.”
He noted that government is responsible for the depletion of the nation’s funds and not the people and that the primary problem is the massive corruption in government.
“For instance, while the Presidency proclaimed that the country spent N1.3 trillion on fuel subsidy in 2011, the Central Bank Governor under oath in the House of Representatives gave the subsidy paid for the same period as being over N1.7 trillion while the actual figures spent were over N2.3 trillion,” he said.
He added that the ministers of Finance and Petroleum admitted under oath that contrary to the constitutional stipulation that all monies accruing to the country should be paid into the Federation Account, the NNPC was helping itself to the funds before paying the balance to the federation.
