Ben Ezechime, Enugu
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Enugu State, Hyacinth Ngwu, has commended President Bola Tinubu for successfully concluding the minimum wage negotiations with the organised labour.
Ngwu, who is the former APC Publicity Secretary in South-East, gave the commendation on Friday in Enugu while reacting to end of months of minimum wage negotiations.
The APC chieftain also advocated for a price control agency to check traders and service providers that arbitrarily increase prices of goods and services leading to unabating inflationary trend.
It would be recalled that President Tinubu, on Thursday, announced N70,000 as the official minimum wage for a monthly wage earning worker, which was agreed upon by the organised labour as representatives of Nigerian workers.
According to Ngwu, it is a welcome development to see that the President, using his charisma as a people-oriented leader, resolve this serious issue of national concern.
He said: “But drastic measures must be put in place to reduce inflationary pressure on the prices of goods and services available to the common man.
“The implementation of the current N30,000 as minimum wage began in 2019. And this is 2024, five years after.
“Given the instability and volatility in our macroeconomic indices, one should advise that the Authority should legislate to allow the review of the minimum wage in every two years.
“This is very important because when one considers the changes in the macroeconomic indices since 2019 to 2024, one will see that the purchasing power of N70,000 in 2024 is grossly devalued when compared to the purchasing power of N30,000 in 2019.”
Ngwu, who is a foundation member of the APC, noted that however “it is good that President Tinubu by his latest action and pronouncement on the minimum wage has moved the country forward.
“But, like our elders would say, ‘Moving is better than standstill.
“To enable the N70,000 alleviate the suffering occasioned by high inflationary pressure on the hard working workers from of our dear Country, the Government should come up with a (inflation check/price control) Agency.
“This Agency should be strongly empowered to rein in our traders/service providers and stop their arbitrary increments in prices of goods and services nationwide,” he added.
