The Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige says the agitation by workers for a pay rise is not peculiar to Nigeria but a global issue.
Ngige said this at the weekend after receiving the Business Day “Excellence in Public Service Award” in Abuja.
In his words, “The other day that I passed through Bailey, they said airport workers were on strike, only for four days. When I passed through London, the railway workers were on strike, only for three days. They are all demanding for more pay,” the ministry’s spokesman Olajide Oshundun quoted him as saying in a statement on Saturday.
“Workers’ demand for more pay is not peculiar to Nigeria but the problem everywhere in the world today as a result of global economic crunch, occasioned by COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and other things that make it look like everybody will die today.
“We will not die today. We only have to adjust both as individuals and as a country in order to survive the crunch,” he said.
The minister, therefore, recommended social dialogue, as recognised by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to him, it will handle several labour issues whether it is the demand for more wages or better conditions of service.
“In Nigeria, the man who implements the law is a very wicked and stingy man. He is seen as a man who does not understand what the law says. It is even worse in government,” Ngige added.
