Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has asked the government to start paying N50,000 minimum wage to Nigerian workers as demanded by organized labour and scrap security vote for state governors.
A statement by his media aide, Uche Anichukuwu, quoted Senator Ekweremadu, who spoke at the 4th National Public Service Lecture of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association in Ibadan at the weekend, as condemning a situation where the minimum wage was pegged at N18,000, while some State governors could pocket as much as N2 billion under the cover of Security Vote.
“When a man who earns N18,000, cannot buy a bag of rice, how then can such a person take care of his family? Does it make sense to him if you tell him not to find alternative means of catering to the needs of his family?
“Is it not also possible to abolish the Security Vote and replace it with Contingency Vote so it can be appropriated and accounted for?,
Senator Ekweremadu, however, observed: “while it is easy to point accusing fingers at the governing elites in public and private sectors, we must all embark on individual soul searching from the highest to the lowest rung of the social-economic strata.
“From the clerks who would never be able to trace your file unless you grease their palms, to security men who would not let you in or claim that ‘oga no dey’ if you are not the type that parts with ‘kola’ each time you visit, the penchant for corrupt enrichment is definitely not the exclusive malaise of the rich and influential.
“Procurement managers in public and private establishments who have mastered the art of contract inflation and over-pricing; traditional rulers who confer chieftaincy titles on known criminals and corrupt persons; religious leaders and institutions that honour the corrupt are also as guilty as those highly influential persons who clear billions with a stroke of the pen or public office holders who cart away public resources under the cover of Security Vote.” [myad]
