Minimum Wage: Anglican Primate Urges Federal Govt, Labour To Resume Talks

As organised labour and the federal government resume dialogue over the new national minimum wage, the Archbishop Metropolitan and the Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Reverend, Dr Henry Ndukuba has called for both parties to reach a common ground to avert the looming crisis in the country.

Ndukuba who made this call yesterday while addressing journalists during his Episcopal Visit to the Cathedral Church of Advent in Abuja, said Nigeria needs peace and justice, and there cannot be peace without justice.

He said that Nigeria is faced with a lot of economic challenges, hence there is the need to ensure that the ongoing negotiation between the federal government, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) reach a concluding stage for the parties to avoid further industrial actions that will worsen the citizens condition.

“With the situation in our country in which families do not even know what to eat and how to provide for their needs, where we are dehumanized, we will begin to think the way we should not think and do the things that we should not do,” he said.

The primate appealed to the government to be considerate, while the NLC and TUC should also be reasonable in their demands.

“If we are demanding for a minimum wage that will make the inflation to get out of hand, we will end up in maximum suffering. I am praying that every side will be considerate.

“What the NLC is asking for, we give them support, and we also want to say that the government should consider what to do in order to see that something is done even if it is not up to what they are demanding,” he said.

Ndukuba while speaking about the Penticos Sunday service, said, “Today is Pentecost Sunday, when we commemorate the coming of the holy spirit upon the church of God.

“As we see from the scriptures, the Old Testament prophesied it, Jesus promised it and on the day of Pentecost, according to the Acts of the Apostle Chapter 2, God poured out his spirit upon all flesh and the people called by His name, and we can see that the church never remained the same.

“In this service, we are going to induct young boys from the age of 3 to 17 because last year, during our Synod, we resolved that as we nurture the girl child, we should pay attention to the boy child because men are endangered species and we need to take care of them.”