‘Our Hope Is Not Renewed’ TUC Tells Tinubu to Honor Agreements

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) President, Festus Osifo, in a New Year’s message for 2024 titled “Our Hope Not Renewed Yet”, along with the Union’s Secretary-General, Nuhu Toro, called out the Federal Government to honour all labour agreements made in the year 2023, especially on issues on National Minimum wage.

The TUC agreements, amongst many with the Federal Government, stem from the need to disburse the monthly N35,000 wage to be awarded to public servants across federal and state local governments until a new national minimum wage is implemented. Osifo, however, expresses disappointment in the government’s failure to meet the basic agreements of ensuring such demands from Labour to serve the public are met.

The TUC President, Osifo, further expressed that Labour had demanded the agreement reached on October 2, 2023, to be recognized by the court. He also stressed that the TUC would persist on all agreements with the Tinubu-led administration in 2024.

Meanwhile, the current inflation of Nigeria’s economy is at 28.20% compared to the sub-Saharan African regional average rate of 9.4%. This index he attributed in condemnation to the government’s policy of devaluing the naira currency, which he claimed was causing local industries to fold up due to their need for foreign exchange to import raw materials, leading to hyperinflation on the import-dependent economy.

While he proffers solutions in his final address speech to tackling the issues of insecurity, fuel price, and naira scarcity, amongst many others, he also criticized the government on its borrowing practice by federal and state governments, especially when such loans are used in funding non-state essential expenses.

In his final remarks, he stated, “The Year 2024 holds a lot of promise for us all, provided Nigerians as a people would unite and assert our authority over all powers. These include the Nigerian ruling class manning all branches, levels, institutions, and organs of government.”

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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