Buhari inherited a country that cannot pay workers’ salaries —Oshiomhole
September 9, 2015
Written by:
Soji Eze Fagbemi and Collins Nnabuife -Abuja
Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari came into office when the country was unable to pay workers’ salaries.
He made this known in Abuja, while commissioning the N1.3 billion Medical and Health Workers' Union of Nigeria complex.
The Edo State governor, while lamenting the deteriorating status of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), noted that the congress lost some grounds over the last couple of years.
According to him, “you (NLC president) inherited an NLC that has lost a lot of public goodwill, just as President Buhari inherited a country which, at a point, cannot even afford to pay salaries.”
He further noted that even when oil was sold at $140 per barrel, which later dropped to $108 per barrel, some states were still unable to pay workers salaries.
His words: “With oil selling at $140 per barrel down to an average of $108 per barrel, just a little shock in oil price, almost 50 per cent of the states could not pay salaries. That is the kind of economy President Buhari inherited.
Oshiomhole, however, expressed optimism that with the cooperation and support of the organised labour, President Buhari would bail Nigeria out, making it a country that would provide comfort for its citizens.
The complex, located at Durumi in Abuja, was named after the current NLC president and also the immediate past president of the Medical and Health Workers' Union of Nigeria, Comrade Ayuba Wabba.
Speaking on the occasion, the president of NLC, Comrade Wabba, noted that the structure was built solely by the union without levying its members.
Comrade Wabba, who was the initiator of the project, further stated that the union did not get support from the government directly or indirectly to erect the structure.
