The Federal Workers Forum (FWF) has rejected the new minimum wage of N70,000, following the calculation of the consequential adjustment which translated to N40,000 increment on the salaries of federal workers in the country.

The federal workers made this known in a communique issued at the end of their virtual meeting on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

Copies of the communique were sent to the Senate President, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Assembly, the Vice President, SGF, the Minister of Labour, the Minister of Justice, the Head of Service of the Federation, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and organised labour, among others.

The workers lamented the untold hardship Nigerians were grappling with as a result of what they described as the anti-people policies introduced by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

They also asked Tinubu to desist from torturing Nigerians whom they said were starving, dying of hunger, and considering committing suicide.

The federal workers insisted that given the high cost of living, the N70,000 new minimum wage signed into law by Tinubu was a cheating to Nigerian workers.

The workers said: “Mr President, the situation at hand is really very bad, worrisome and disturbing. Nigerians are dying of hunger. The tough and hard policies you are making has brought untold hardship to the Nigerian people. Our people are now stranded everywhere, almost everybody is now a beggar.

“The Nigerian daily existence is now a struggle for survival. It is as if our people have been ambushed since the removal of subsidy on petrol. It has been tales of lamentations everywhere and things have really fallen apart. It is so bad that many more citizens are contemplating suicide, just as suicide rate is more than ever before.

“Your hard and tough decisions have proven to be very harsh, hostile and rash. Sir, your policies/reforms is sentencing Nigerians to death, your policies are tantamount to capital punishment.

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“The new national minimum wage paid last September shows that only N40,000 is added to the salaries of all federal workers across all levels. To us as federal workers, we see the consequential adjustments to the new national minimum wage as inconsequential. What has been down is the extending of the earlier wage award of N35,000 upgraded to N40,000.

“To us as workers, we feel cheated, this is exploitation of the vulnerable, the federal government is not being fair to the workers. How can the price of petrol be increased by over 600% and just N40,000 is added to the salaries of workers. We the workers feel that we have been defrauded.

“We are just wondering the essence of the tripartite committee set up for months to review the new national minimum wage. Moreso that N70,000 is not a living wage and some states of the federation have promised to pay more than that.

“Mr President Sir, we want to believe you are not aware that all the calculations for wage adjustment amounts to N40,000 to all workers including that of our Directors. This to us is unlike the civil service calculus and bureaucracy. We the federal workers are badly demoralised and are not happy as our living conditions continues to deteriorate, as we are daily faced with increasing cost of living crisis.

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“Mr President Sir, we are calling for your immediate attention, federal government workers are starving, almost everyone is on loan to survive the day, our take home hardly survives us for a week. We therefore urge you to personally intervene in the plight of the federal workers.

“We urge you to reevaluate the so-called new national minimum wage of N70,000. This to us is ridiculous and should be a national embarrassment and a disgrace. Federal government workers have been financially embarrassed.

“We therefore reject N40,000 added to our monthly take home as the new national minimum wage. We urge the federal government to urgently fashion out radical moves to immediately tackle the rising cost of foodstuff and other goods and services.”

The Star