The National Assembly’s members’ salaries, according to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, are insufficient to meet the needs of their people.
On Monday, Akpabio made this statement in response to a resolution on the need to prevent an approaching strike planned by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which was sponsored by Abdulraman Kawu Suleiman, a Kano South representative for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).
He claimed that the National Assembly’s funding was insufficient to handle the volume of requests from the several constituencies represented there.
Akpabio conceded that though hardships associated with the removal of subsidies on petroleum products were enormous, there was a need for the people to be more patient with the government while steps were being taken to ameliorate the suffering of the people.
In defending his motion, Kawu said, “the strike would cripple the country as movement would be severely curtailed as commercial transport operators would withdraw their services, while markets, schools, and healthcare facilities would be forced to shut down.”
Kawu added said the action could heat up the polity when it occurred, and the gains from the strike would be far below the costs to either of the parties in conflict.
He said, “The strike threat by the NLC, if not averted, could plunge Nigeria into deeper economic woes, dislocate businesses, hunger, frustration, more hardship that would lead to unquantified financial losses and reduce Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“NLC strike is also a bad reputation for the Nigerian economy and the educational system because it portrays the country in a bad light to the external world and discourages foreigners from coming to do business or study in Nigeria,” Kawu said.
