By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for a market hearing on prices of food, to enable the National Minimum Wage Committee to arrive at a reasonable amount following tussles to set a new level since 2019.
This call was made by Mr Joe Ajaero, the President of the body, who is chairing the ongoing North East Zonal Public Hearing on National Minimum Wage, in Yola on Thursday.
He said the market hearing should be conducted in all zones, adding that without the market hearing the aim of the public hearing on minimum wage will be defeated.
“We need to go to the markets and ask how much is a bag of rice, Garri and other food items, if we balance the two I think we will get somewhere,” he said.
The NLC president warned that a lot of people were facing difficulties, and cited that the average worker had to pay at least N1,000 for transport to go to work, a development that necessitated the government to do something.
He said, “We are here to collate raw data, so that we can process, and get something better and meaningful that will be acceptable to everyone.”
Present at the event was the Governor of Adamawa State, Mr Ahmadu Fintiri, who described the town hall meeting as timely going by the economic situation in the country.
Mr Fintiri, represented by his Deputy, Mr Kaletapwa Farauta, said, “As a government, the right thing to do is what we are doing, to get to our people and bring them help and succour”.
The stakeholders were drawn from Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe States for the public hearing.
