Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), on Thursday expressed support for the N56,000 minimum wage being demanded by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). Olanipekun who stated this, while speaking to newsmen in Ikere-Ekiti,
noted that Nigerian leaders had not shown enough concerns and empathy with Nigerian workers and the unemployed in the society. He urged the Federal Government to grant the request made by NLC stressing that no responsible government would pay less than what the organized labour was demanding.
According to him "I agree with the NLC on its demand for the new minimum wage. No government in this country should pay less than that. NLC is even being benevolent. Why is government running away from paying that minimum wage? Why is government not creating employment opportunities?"
He lamented that Nigerians leaders and wealthy individuals in the country were self-centered and have not done enough to eradicate poverty in the country. He called on the government to address the issue of poverty by providing good governance, putting an end to rigging and corruption.
"We want our own children to survive but we don't want an army of other Nigerian children to succeed. This is why poverty thrives here. You alleviate poverty by giving good governance, by stopping stealing, by giving employment, by not snatching ballot boxes. The ballot boxes should be seen as a sacred box, don't touch - you must respect it. It is a collective conscience of all of us. It is a corporate surrender of all of us and it is sacred. Don't buy election or give money to buy voters to your side.
Woe betides those who loot the treasury but looting can be prevented with adequate government policies and good governance. By bad governance we are encouraging looting. Government must enact fundamental policies. There must be a synergy among the three tiers of government. Government at all level must take the issue of unemployment very seriously.
Thousands are graduating every year, when we are churning out these graduates, as a pro chancellor of a university, I am saddened that years back during our own time, jobs were waiting for us as we leave school. But today, you don't find such job many years after graduation. If Nigeria was not good when we were growing up, we won't be what we are," he said.
