Workers urge Jonathan to slash officials pay

Nigerian workers on Sunday joined their counterparts all over the world in celebrating this year’s May Day with a call on President Goodluck Jonathan to reduce the high cost of governance in the country.



The workers, through their leaders, also enjoined the President to stem unemployment and corruption which, according to them, constituted the nation’s biggest challenges.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr. Abdulwahed Omar, who led workers in the celebration in Abuja, said Jonathan needed to use the opportunity provided by his victory at the April 16 Presidential election to decisively tackle the issue of the bloated remuneration for members of the National Assembly and other public office holders.

Omar, at the celebration which theme was “Growing the National Economy for Job creation and People’s Welfare,” advised that the remuneration of such public office holders should be structured in such a way that it would reflect the economic reality in the country.

He pointed out that the desire to build a new Nigeria where things were done fairly and equitably would not be a reality with the sustenance of the jumbo pay package of public office holders in a country with a high rate of poverty among its citizenry.

Noting that the jumbo pay of federal legislators was impacting negatively on the economy, the NLC president advised that their salaries should be set by the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission.

He said, “The cost of governance continues to weigh down on the national economy. We call on the President to take urgent steps to address the issue of the remuneration and other perequisites of political office holders.

“He must use the opportunity of his fresh, overwhelming mandate and the window of the transition to deal decisively with this matter. It is clear that the creation of a new Nigeria which is equitable, just and development-oriented is not possible if this issue is not resolved.

“Our legislators and indeed our elected public officers’ pay must reflect the reality of the average earnings in the economy. In order to ensure this, there is need for the setting of the salaries of political office holders to be moved to the NSIWC so that the same underlying parameters can be used in establishing guidelines for all public sector employees and elected officers.

“Moreover, there is need for transparency such that the salaries and other perquisites of public office holders are matters of public knowledge and not shrouded in secrecy.”

Also at the event, the President-General of the Trade Union Congress, Mr. Peter Esele, urged security operatives to approach the task of maintaining security with the “expected degree of professionalism.”

He urged them to shun ethnicity and religious fanaticism in the discharge of their duties.

Stating that the presence of the security operatives in the polling units across the country contributed to the peace witnessed during the general elections, Esele pointed out that if further security measures had been taken, the post-election violence in the North would have been prevented.

He condemned the bombings that occurred in some parts of the country before and during the elections. He called on the political class to resist making provocative comments that could lead to a breakdown of law and order in the society.

The TUC boss said, “The presence of more security agents at the polling agents at the polling centres may have prevented violence in many other places, but a lot more would have been done to prevent the post-election violence that rocked some states in the North.

“We demand that security agents drop off the toga of ethnicity and religious fanaticism while carrying out their constitutionally recognised duties.

“As a labour centre, we view these developments particularly the introduction of bombings in our politics as totally condemnable.

“We call on the political class to learn how to accept defeat as part of the game and refrain from acts capable of plunging the country into a state of anarchy.”

The Central Bank Nigeria Governor , Mr. Lamido Sanusi Lamido, had at the eighth convocation of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, in November 2010, said that 25 per cent of the nation’s overhead cost was spent on the National Assembly.

His disclosure stirred calls by Nigerians and groups for a reduction in the salaries and allowances paid to the members of the federal legislature.