Nigerians have commended President Bola Tinubu for his promise to send an executive bill on the new national minimum wage (NNMW) to the National Assembly, asking him not to dash the hope of the workers.
They stated this on Wednesday while reacting to the president’s national broadcast to commemorate the 25 years of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria.
A former Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, noted that the presidential address highlighted the significance of the June 12, 1993 presidential election believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
Olayinka said that the election was adjudged to be the freest and fairest election in the history of in the history of Nigeria.
“That election was held some 31 years ago, and in the nature of things, most Nigerians who are currently under 40 may not recollect what happened before and immediately after that event.
“It is gratifying that the president paid deserving tributes to all the heroes of June 12, many of whom are no longer alive today,” he said.
The former vice-chancellor also stated that the promise by Tinubu to transmit an executive bill to the national assembly on a new minimum wage as soon as possible would douse the tension among Nigerian workers.
According to him, the bill is in order since it is widely accepted that workers in both the public and private sectors of the economy deserve a living wage for survival.
Also, a financial expert, Mr Tunji Adepeju, described the presidential address as good, noting that it recognised those who sacrificed their lives, time and resources to take the country out of the quagmire of that time.
“Like the president said, some of them were in exile for some time, while some lost their lives during the period, but here we are today enjoying democracy continuously for 25 years,” he said.
Adepeju expressed happiness with the president’s statement that there had been some agreement with organised labour on the new minimum wage.
“What that portrays is that labour leaders might not be telling us the truth. At the end of the day, all the N250,000 and N494,000 that were being thrown on the papers were just demands that they themselves did not believe in.
“The figures were just being paraded to satisfy the wishes of their members.
“Now, the president has tactically disclosed to Nigerians that they an agreement had been reached and fortunately, the labour leaders and others were part of the tripartite committee that look into the issue,” he said.
The financial expert described as a thing of joy the assurance given to Nigerians by Tinubu that with his administration’s policies and programmes, Nigerians would be better off at the end of the day.
Adepeju noted that the president said that he would do all within his powers, even as he sent warnings to those who were out to destabilise the progress being made by his administration.
“I want to believe that those people, whether they are politicians, bureaucrats or businessmen, would exercise some caution, going forward,” he said.
However, a Professor of Education Evaluation, Adams Onuka, said he was not impressed by the contents of the presidential speech, aside acknowledging the roles played by some heroes of the democracy which the country is enjoying now.
Onuka said that the speech only made a veiled acknowledgement of the harsh economic condition currently being experienced by Nigerians.
“The president could not tell us in his speech exactly what the minimum or living wage agreed upon. No concrete amount was agreed as minimum, not even a living wage was stated. This, to me, smacks of not being transparent enough.
“The speech would have highlighted in concrete terms the steps being taken to bring the nation’s economy country to a prosperous path, the timelines for realising it and how it will be realised,” Onuka said.
He stressed the need for the president’s economic team to sit down and articulate ways out of the present quagmire.
“For me, so much was left to be desired in the speech and it is quite below my expectations,” the don said. (NAN)
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