Minimum Wage: Primate Ayodele Speaks on NLC's Demands, Strike

• The NLC has been urged to accept the government's proposal of N60,000 as the new minimum wage
• Primate Elijah Ayodele made the appeal to organised labour, adding that the demand of N494,000 as the new minimum wage would pull the country into recession, and inflation would go up
• Ayodele said the higher the salaries, the higher the cost of living, and it is in the best interest of the country for the union to accept the government's N60,000 proposal

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Organised labour's demand for N494,000 as the new minimum wage from the federal government has been described as unrealistic.

Primate Elijah Ayodele, the spiritual leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, made the comment while reacting to the request of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) from the federal government.

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PM News reported that Ayodele made his position known in a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, adding that the union was wasting time with the demand.

The cleric maintained that the highest government can pay without hitches is N60,000.

According to him, what the NLC was asking for as a new minimum wage was unrealistic and unachievable because an increase in salaries would lead to an increase in inflation and cost of living. Thus, the higher the salaries, the higher the inflation.

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The religious leader also commented on the scheduled nationwide strike, urging the union not to embark on it because doing so would not make the government shift ground to accept their demands.

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The cleric maintained that the government could not meet the NLC's demand because doing so would push the country into recession.

The statement reads in part:

‘’The NLC is only wasting time with the request for N494,000 as minimum wage; the highest the federal government can do is N60,000. As a matter of fact, an increment in salary will lead to an increase in inflation and cost of living. Labour is only dreaming with the proposal, it’s not realistic and can’t be achieved.’’

Source: Legit.ng