The Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) has called on the federal government to increase the salaries of Nigerian workers to alleviate the suffering arising from the removal of the fuel subsidy and the increase in price of petroleum products.
The president of OAIC Nigeria Region, Elder Israel Akinadewo, made the call yesterday while speaking at the end of a workshop on Climate Change Adaptation for Small Holder Farmers in Nigeria, with the theme: “Adaptation for Small-Holder Farmers and Responsive Policy: A Faith-based Response,” organised in Abuja.
Akinadewo who also lamented the high cost of living in Nigeria as a result of the fuel subsidy removal, condemned the proposed sharing of N8,000 to 12 million households in Nigeria as palliative, saying instead of giving money to Nigerians, the government should purchase buses to ease transportation of workers and small holder farmers.
According to him, the policy of giving N8,000 to 12 million households is a wrong step in the wrong direction, because when money is given to an unproductive sector, the reality is that it will not solve any problem.
He argued that the money could also be used to purchase a lot of big vehicles that can reduce the cost of transportation, adding that the reality is that the cost of governance vis a vis the standard of living of the people is just too wide, and called for measures to close the gap.
He called for a review of the minimum wage and asked the government to increase the salary of workers while being mindful of inflation, insisting that the minimum wage is no longer sustainable.
The OAIC also called on the government to completely implement the Climate Change Act, which the organisation expressed confidence would improve the living standard of small holder farmers.
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