Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
The Senator representing Ebonyi North zone in the 10th Assembly, Onyekachi Nwebonyi, on Monday urged the Organised Labour to shelve its planned action slated to begin tomorrow (Tuesday).
He made the call in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi State, in an interview with Journalists.
He said the concessions by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which include a N25, 000 salary increase for the least paid civil servants should persuade Labour to shelve the strike and continue negotiations with the Federal Government.
“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to Nigeria Labour Congress to rethink of going into strike. About 25 percent increment has been done in the workers’ salary.
“That is a man who thinks for his people, that is a man who feels the pains with his people. So, with this, I am convinced that Bola Ahmed Tinubu will actually lead Nigeria to the desired destination.”
Senator Nwebonyi said that though the N25, 000 salary may not be enough but noted that it is a good place to start.
“Well, it is not enough because we must be honest to ourselves. We all know what inflation is all about today. So, even for a civil servant to earn less than N100,000 is still not enough, even above N100,000 is not enough.
“However, we must start somewhere and I believe that through negotiation between labour and government, things will get better. Of course, Rome was not built in a day.
“The fact is that Mr. President understands that the economy is biting hard on the citizens and the need to increase workers salaries,” he said.
The Senator denied rumors that National Assembly members got N100million each as their own palliatives.
“We shouldn’t work with rumour for us to develop as a nation and I must tell you point blank, there was nothing like that,” he said.
