Buhari speaks on New Minimum Wage, begs workers

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the Nigerian Labour Congress to reconsider its planned nationwide strike on November 6th over new Minimum Wage.

The President made this appeal when he received members of the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria led by Ambassador Oladapo Fafowora at the Presidential Villa on Monday.

The NLC strike is planned to begin on Tuesday, November 6 and in a statement by Femi Adesina, the President called for calm, saying his administration was doing more with fewer resources.

The statement read in part: “President Buhari also appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress to consider what this government inherited and the more it is doing with fewer resources in putting the economy right.

“The president reassured Nigerians that his administration will sustain massive investments to upgrade and develop the country’s transport and power infrastructure.

“He said Nigerians will never forget the ‘‘lost opportunity between 1999 and 2015,’’ when the nation had huge resources at its disposal.

“There is no part of the country I haven’t been to, having attempted to be President four times.

”I know the condition of our roads. The rails were literally killed, there was no power despite the admittance of some previous leadership that they spent $16bn on the sector.

”Today, we are getting our priorities right and we believe that of the three fundamental issues we campaigned on – security, the economy and fighting corruption-, we have remained very relevant and Nigerians believe we have achieved something.

“I will do my best to see that where there are possibilities of making a quick improvement on infrastructure, we will do it.”