On sourcing the funds to finance his proposal, Sowore said: “There are uncollected royalties from oil companies, who are making a kill from our oil blocs. A fraction of this money alone can pay the Nigerian worker without the government breaking the bank”.
In solidarity with Nigerian workers, Omoyele Sowore, Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), has unveiled a salary calculator on his campaign website, which compares the salary of Nigerian workers with that of serving Senators.
The calculator, which evaluates how long it would take a worker in Nigeria to earn an equivalent of the monthly allowances of lawmakers of the National Assembly Members comes on the heels in the conversation on how much Nigerians should earn as the new minimum wage.
Labour unions had shelved plans to embark on an indefinite industrial action earlier scheduled to begin on Tuesday on the new national minimum wage.
Speaking on the minimum wage at the Independence Day rally at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Lagos, Sowore said: “When they want to receive allowances, there is money but when Nigerian workers who create the wealth demand for a fair wage for their labour, Facebook economists will tell you it will cause inflation. How will investing in your human resources cause inflation? How come the salary of our Senators who do nothing have not caused inflation?”
He went on to propose N100,000 minimum wage, which he called “living wage”, adding that “what this will do is that it will empower civil servants with purchasing power, and they will stimulate the market through demand and supply and this will grow local businesses, but they say this is not possible because they want you to remain where you are”.
On sourcing the funds to finance his proposal, Sowore said: “There are uncollected royalties from oil companies, who are making a kill from our oil blocs. A fraction of this money alone can pay the Nigerian worker without the government breaking the bank”.
Oke Temitayo Ezekiel, who stated his experience using the tool, posted on Facebook: “And this is what I got: it will take you four years, 10 months to earn Nigerian Senators monthly allowance. Wahala Deh!”
“It will take me 11 years, three months to earn a Senator’s monthly salary,” Folorunsho Williams said, after using the salary calculator tool.
