President Bola Tinubu has congratulated the Nigerian workers on the occasion of annual May Day celebration by workers globally.
This is contained in a statement by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The President saluted Nigerian workers for their fidelity to the peace, progress, and development of the nation evident in their tireless efforts and patriotic zeal to keep the national engine running.
He stated that his administration remains committed to improving the welfare of all workers, citing the various relief programmes, including the wage award and the imminent minimum wage review.
“President Tinubu celebrates Nigerian workers across all spheres – from the clerical officer who ensures the proper documentation and distribution of correspondence and the security officer who remains ever dutiful through all seasons.
“The teacher who secures the future of our nation by imparting knowledge to the next generation; the doctor who works relentlessly to save precious lives, and to all Nigerian workers who keep the candle aflame.”
Mr Tinubu said that the custodians of the nation’s machinery deserved a fair wage and enhanced welfare, adding that “a labourer is deserving of not just any reward but fair and commensurate wages”.
The President assured Nigerian workers of his determination to improve their welfare, enhance their working conditions as well as provide the necessary tools for them to succeed.
The federal government on Tuesday announced increase in salary of some categories of Nigerian workers by 25 per cent to 35 per cent.
The labour unions, however, are waiting for a new national minimum wage, which has expired by April 1 by constitutional provision.
Joe Ajaero, the Nigeria Labour Congress President had called for a review of the five years renegotiation of the wages of workers in the country due to inflationary trends of the economy.
“There is a need to tinker with the law providing for five yearly renegotiation of national minimum wage to allow for yearly adjustment of wages based on the rate of inflation and value of the Naira.
“This is important because people have been coming up to say that if we increase salaries, it will affect inflation,” he had said at the 2nd National Labour Adjudication and Arbitration Forum in Abuja.
NAN
