Director-General of Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, has commended the Federal Government for initiating plans to commence conditional cash transfer to the citizens to cushion the biting effects of oil subsidy removal just as he advised that funds saved from fuel subsidy be channeled to other sectors.
Comrade Aremu made his position known at the joint opening of workshops organized for the Steel and Engineering Workers’ Union of Nigeria (SEWUN), National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
While insisting that the cash transfer is very necessary, Aremu cautioned against discouraging that.
He further warned against the juxtaposition of cash transfer and provision of transportation as well as other social services to mitigate the sufferings of the masses and advised relevant stakeholders to negotiate for upward review of the amount to be transferred where the value proposed by the government is considered meagre.
Expressing his appreciation to the Federal Government for introducing the policy, he appealed for an unconditional transfer instead and called for a mop-up of the existing social register where it is considered to lack integrity.
Aremu commended the organized labour for their peaceful engagement with the Federal Government on review of salaries and wages of workers in view of the present economic realities in the country, adding that such engagement should be time-bound.
He called on the leaders of the organised labour to consider negotiating for a living wage instead of minimum wage as that is the only way to achieve an improved living standard of workers in particular and Nigerians in general.
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