Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on Monday, promised to join forces with Nigerian workers to ensure better welfare and working conditions, vowing “workers will have more than a minimum wage.”
He also urged support for his soon-to-begin administration in fighting poverty, ignorance, disease, disunity, ethnic and religious hate, which he described as “common” enemies.
“Your fight will be my fight because I will always fight for you,” Tinubu said in a statement he signed on Monday to mark Workers’ Day.
In the statement titled, ‘President-elect’s solidarity message to Nigerian Workers on International Workers Day’, Tinubu said his Renewed-Hope Agenda for a better Nigeria was a covenant he was prepared to keep.
The president-elect said, “On this special day, as your president-elect, I extend my hands of friendship to the Nigerian workers through the two central Labour unions — (the) Nigeria Labour Congress and (the) Trade Union Congress.
“In me, you will find a dependable ally and co-labourer in the fight for social and economic justice for all Nigerians, including all the working people.
“Your fight will be my fight because I will always fight for you. My plans for better welfare and working conditions are clearly spelt out in my Renewed Hope Agenda for a Better Nigeria. It is a covenant born of conviction and one I am prepared to keep.”
Tinubu noted that the Federal Government and Nigerian workers face a common battle against “poverty, ignorance, disease, disunity, ethnic and religious hate and all negative forces that contend against the stability and prosperity of our country.” A fight, he said, must be won together.
However, the former Lagos State governor revealed that the ensuing weeks after his inauguration would require doggedness as the public service reforms he hopes to implement would require tough decisions.
“In Nigeria, I shall have the honour and privilege to lead from May 29, workers will have more than a minimum wage. You will have a living wage to have a decent life and provide for your family.
“The days ahead will, however, demand better understanding and cooperation from all sides, because leadership will require that we take tough and hard decisions so that our people and all Nigerian workers can live more abundantly,” Tinubu revealed.
