Organised labour and women in the informal sector have been assured of improved wages, empowerment and job security under the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, and Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima.
The Director-General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, Comrade Issa Aremu, gave the assurance while declaring open activities marking the International Women Day (IWD) on Wednesday, organised by the women organ of the institute.
IWD is a global day held every May 8 to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
Aremu, who is also the Director of the 75-member Labour Directorate of Asiwaju/ Shetima Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), said the record of the labour administration of the President-elect as former governor of Lagos State (from 1999 to 2007) andcampaign programme of APC positioned him “as the possible best labour-friendly President” in waiting.
According to him, Tinubu was the first presidential Ccandidate to engage NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) members on critical labour market issues with promises of social dialogue as a means of resolving disputes in workplaces.
He described the President-elect and the Vice President-elect as “tested and trusted democratic state and non-state icons” who would consolidate on some of the pro- labour legacies of President Muhammadu Buhari and engage organised labour on outstanding issues of living wage, gender equity, pension, labour motivation, productivity, social protection and dispute resolutions.
He recalled that the President-elect has been a friend of labour who often intervened between organised labour and government on contentious policy issues at the time it was not fashionable to do so.
Aremu noted while many states were yet to sign on to the Compulsory Contributory Pension Scheme ( CPS), Lagos since 2004 has paid as much as N150 billion to almost 30,000 retirees, adding that the President-elect remained “the best labour-friendly in waiting that would guarantee decent work”. He commended Nigerians for keeping faith with democratic process in the past 24 years, despite the challenges of rising inflation and wage income poverty.
Meanwhile, Aremu hailed the leadership of the NLC for the successful conclusion of the 13th National Delegates’ conference during which Comrade Joseph Ajaero emerged as national president and Comrade Prince Adeyanju Adewale deputy president.
