As the dust raised by the federal government’s offer of N62, 000 as minimum wage to civil servants is yet to settle, a Catholic priest, Ejike Mbaka said governors and members of the national assembly should also earn the same amount as their monthly wage.
The controversial cleric and founder of Adoration Ground, Enugu, stated this in a television interview on AIT.
Mbaka who was reacting to the new minimum wage demand by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said the salaries of members of the national assembly have been shrouded in secrecy.
With inflation climbing higher on daily basis, Mbaka urged the federal government to expedite action on the minimum wage saying if the authorities were not careful, the crisis generated by the issue “can be hijacked and nobody knows the ripples effect.”
“We can push these poor Nigerians to the point of rebellion. That is my fear. All of us were in Lagos that day, we couldn’t come back.
“Just like a joke the labour people entered into the airport and stopped every operation and if this happens again it might tantamount to what nobody dreams or what we dream but out of fear we cannot release to the public.
“If we decide to give labour N60, 000 or N62, 000, why not generalise it to the house of assembly members, senatorial members, house of representative members, and governors?
“All of them are civil servants. So, are the others slaves? I cannot imagine why somebody can be amassing billions and billions as sitting allowance, wardrobe allowance, newspaper allowance, vehicle allowance and what they call suffering allowance.
“The people that should have such allowances should be the poor masses in the villages.
“As teachers, how much are they being paid? Our nurses and doctors, how much are they being paid? Let us be realistic, our civil servants that wake from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
“They wake up early and return late. How much are they being paid? And look at the level of inflation in the country,” he said.
