The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded for payment of cost of living allowance to workers and others to cushion the effects of the rising inflation.
According to President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba, “the high inflation is a pointer to the fact that the economy is not healthy. It also clearly shows the level of the challenge of the economy.
“Basically, it is also the evidence that the cost of goods and services especially foods and every item has gone haywire. It is a reflection of also the value of our currency. The value of our currency has continued to be on a free fall and all of this put together is what is reflected in the inflation data released. With all of these, it is the workers that are on fixed wages that are at the receiving end and basically, we now have a pool of the working poor because of the fact that it is difficult for people to have ends meet.
“The facts are very obvious. To me, it is even an understatement to say that it is at the level of 20 percent especially.
Two days ago, I went to buy a loaf of bread in Abuja, a bread that used to be N250 moved to N500. Now, a loaf of bread is now N800/900. So, imagine somebody on N30, 000; how does he survive? It is really a difficult situation, that is why many countries around the world are paying what they called cost of living allowances and we have urged the government to look at it. Ghana recently paid 15 percent, South Africa paid to all workers some percentage to cushion the challenge of hyperinflation in the system which has also resulted to the high cost of living.”
