The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the last elections, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has said increasing the wage of workers would have little or no economic impact on the living condition of workers and Nigerians as a whole.
Adebayo who addressed journalists in Abuja on the backdrop of growing agitation by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), for an upward review of workers’ wages explained that more money does not translate to quality life at this material time, adding that the focus should be the purchasing power of the naira.
“In other words, it is not the volume of money in one’s hands that matters but what the money can buy. There are things we need to understand in basic economics. Having more money does not guarantee you anything. Everybody who’s living today has more money than Julius Caesar. Because at that time, the entire British economy was not up to one billion pounds for the first 1000 years of her existence. Purchasing power is what is important,” he said.
He therefore called on the labour unions to work with the federal government to come up with policies that will increase the purchasing power of Nigerians, saying, “You have to increase the volume of housing available. You have to increase the volume of foodstuff available. You have to increase the number of classrooms available. You have to increase the spaces available for productivity by making sure you ramp up production.”
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He argued that what is needed is to increase productivity so that the purchasing power of the naira will be strengthened and workers will enjoy whatever amount they receive as minimum wage.
Adebayo also noted that the organised labour does not represent the interest of a greater number of Nigerians as only a few Nigerians belong to the organisation.
