Community Head Tasks FG, States On Workers Welfare
…Calls for creation of decent jobs
Mojisola Lawal
The Community Head of Apapa road and Otumara 11, High Chief Kehinde Kalejaiye has called on government at all levels to prioritise workers welfare as he said workers are the wheel of progress of any society.
High Chief Kehinde made this known in an exclusive chat with newsexplorersng correspondent, Mojisola Lawal at his residence in Lagos on the occasion of this year’s workers’ day celebration on May 1.
While commending the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for his approval of the N30,000 new minimum, High Chief Kalejaiye said governors of the 36 states of the federation must strictly adhere to the approved minimum wage.
He said “ Nigeria is a blessed country therefore there is no reason for workers in the country to suffer. In the past, we have seen workers languishing in penury due to the insensitive and corruption of past leaders who rather than improve on the standard of living of workers they steal our collective wealth. But since 2015, things are changing. Workers in Nigeria are beginning to have a new lease of life starting from the newly approved minimum wage of N30, 000. This is a step to a better life for Nigerian workers. I therefore want to urge all our governors not give excuses . They should pay the minimum wage without cutting it. An average Nigerian worker is entitled to a good life, decent accommodation and qualitative healthcare too. Every State in Nigeria has the capacity to pay, they only need to work on improving their Internally General Revenue drive and cut down on wasteful spending and avoid corruption. They should value the workers. They should appreciate Nigerian workers. They should let us be prideful of being a Nigerian worker. In the midst of abundance, Nigeria workers should not be left to suffer. Let there be living wage for workers in Nigeria with this national prosperity is assured.”
Further commenting on the alarming rate of youth unemployment in the country, High Chief Kalejaiye who is also an employer of labour said that there is an urgent need for the Federal Government to create decent jobs for the teeming youth population to check insecurity, youth restiveness and crimes.
He added that “Through the various social investment programmes of the All Progressives Congress led Federal Government, many youth have been engaged but the number of graduates that our universities turn out each year keep increasing and they needed to be absorbed too. So as we celebrate Nigerian workers this year, I am appealing to the Federal Government to create more decent jobs that will add value, dignity and substance to the lives of workers. Also, they should maintain the prices of commodities especially the price of petrol because they cannot be given with one hand and be collecting with another.”
Calling on Nigerians to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, High Chief Kalejaiye assured Nigerians of better days with economy prosperity, qualitative healthcare, jobs for the youths and abundance in this second coming.
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