President of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, of Nigeria, Comrade Festus Osifo has said the political class must also make sacrifices to cushion the biting effects of subsidy removal.
Osifo who stated this when speaking on Channels TV programme Politics Today monitored by LEADERSHIP said the TUC’s demand of 200,000 Naira as the new minimum wage was based on the hindsight that the government was going to float the currency.
He lamented that Governors and legislatures have continued business as usual with endless convoys while the masses wallow in abject poverty and hardship.
He said personnel cost has remained the soft target in any organisation after mismanagement.
“Personnel cost is always the target in any organisation after mismanagement. We know Nigeria has been passing through some monetary and policy pressure but the people are the easiest target.
“What Nigerians are asking is what has he govt brought to the table. The only commodity being subsidised for the people is taken away”.
Comrade Festus Osifo believes the government needs to explain to the masses what the monies borrowed have been used for .
“You are asking the people to tighten their belt but what have you brought to the table. What is the contribution of the political class to this economic lockjam,we are talking about the cost of governance but you still import all manner of cars from different parts of the world but you have some cars manufactured in Nigeria.
“Why can’t you create policies to encourage the manufacturing sector and reduce the cost of governance by using Nigeria made cars. The Governors and new legislatures are doing business as usual.
“You see endless convoys so what we are saying is if the Federal Government was not able to find a subsidy at whose expense, what were the things they were doing with our funds. All the monies that were borrowed went over 23tn. What did they do with it? They need to also offer some explanations to Nigerians.
Not that at the slightest provocations,they pushed Nigerians to the street, they told them you must tighten your belt while they are loosening theirs,” he said.
He said the meeting with the FG on Monday in relation to the subsidy removal “went well”, adding that he believes the meeting should have been held earlier in May.
