NLC Advocates N50bn Annual Budget for NASS Members, Calls for Review of Minimum Wage
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Deputy Factional President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Issa Aremu, has called on members of the 8th National Assembly (NASS) to cut down their yearly budget.
He also called for the urgent review of the Minimum Wage Act of 2010 which he said would expire by July 2015.
Comrade Aremu who made the call while peaking at a news conference on Sunday in Kaduna, advised that the budget of the NASS should be reduced from 120 billion Naira to 50 billion Naira.
He was of the opinion that since the number of the legislators had remained the same since 2003 when they were collecting N50 billion as annual budget, there was no justification for the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission to increase their budget by almost a 100%.
The labour leader posited that the reported 20% cut of the budget was a far cry from the current realities and therefore, should not be accepted by Nigerians.
According to him, a situation whereby 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives would spend as much as 120 billion Naira in a year, while many states of the federation are unable pay salaries for over seven months and execute any meaningful project is an injustice.
He advised the lawmakers to take advantage of the goodwill in the country presently and redirect public funds to priority sectors such as education, health and road construction.
