Civil servants pay more taxes than increase in minimum wage — NLC

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has took a swipe at the tax regime of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying workers in the country now pay more taxes than what they receive from the recently increased minimum wage.

It also also recommended to the International Labour Organisation, ILO, payment of a universal wage system and universal condition of service for workers.

It accused the Federal Government of not honouring products of collective bargaining, adding that social safety net was almost zero in the country.

This is as the Director General of the ILO, Gilbert Houngbo, said lasting peace would only be possible through social justice.

Speaking at the Tripartite Panel on Global Coalition for Social Justice at the UN House in Abuja, the NlC President, Joe Ajaero, faulted the claims by some of the representatives of the federal government that the economic policies had started to show positive signs.

He said: “We are in this hall and somebody is telling us that the economic policies are showing positive signs. When this government came into power, they removed subsidy on petroleum products, by that, millions of naira was being expected to come in. 

“I want to find out the roads they have used that money to build. The tax regime today, some of the civil servants here pay more than the increase in minimum wage. What they were collecting before the minimum wage is higher than what they’re collecting now because of the tax regime. 

“Electricity tariff is unbearable, people are paying for darkness in this country. We are talking about green energy, not  a lot has happened in terms of going green, we are still paying more attention to fossil fuel with all the attendant health hazards and environmental pollution in this country.

“Before, the Nigerian government promised to get zero emission by 2030,  today, after the Dubai whatever, they are talking of 2060 now, which means there is no conscious effort so far to attend this zero emission target.”

Ajaero commended the ILO director-general for coming up with the dialogue on social justice.

“I want to thank you for this attention on social justice you are talking of. The DG, you have been showing a lot of passion on this, probably because of the background where we come from. We talked about social safety nets. 

“I think that’s almost zero in Nigeria. Nigerians generate their power. Nigerians sink borehole for their water. There’s no public transportation in Nigeria that is free for people. The hospitals are not there. 

“Even the contributory pension policy, some companies have not remitted what they deducted for 60 months. It is hard for us to talk about social safety nets in a country.’’ 

On his part the ILO Director General, Gilbert Houngbo, said lasting peace was only possible through social justice.

He said:  “Social dialogue must drive human-centred economic transformation, including technological transformation, ensuring job creation aligned with fair wages, social protection and sustainable practices.

“As Africa’s largest economy , Nigeria has the responsibility to lead by example in developing inclusive and sustainable labour policies.”