The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Shehu Gabam, has urged the Federal Government to pay civil servants a minimum wage above N100,000 as it will be able to attend to the needs of workers.
Gabam made the appeal when he was featured as a guest on Sunday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
The development comes barely one week after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) embarked on a nationwide strike to demand an increased minimum wage for workers and the reversal of the recently increased electricity tariff.
The industrial action was however suspended for five days after the labour leaders signed a commitment with the Federal Government to resume negotiations and come up with a new minimum wage within a week.
On June 7, the Tripartite Committee concluded its meetings as both the FG and the Organised Private Sector agreed on N62,000 while Labour pegged its demand to N250,000.
But Gabam insisted that the government will do itself a favour by settling for a reasonable wage that is above N100,000 to avoid civil servants sabotaging the system.
In his words, “For me, what I think at this stage is that the government should do something above N100,000. It is reasonably okay. It makes a little bit of sense. People can breathe, and people can go to work without thinking of sabotaging the institutions.
“You are paying civil servants and other private employees just N30,000. And then when you go to the market, there is nothing of the lowest that you can get at the cost of N30,000,” he added.
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