Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has denounced what he said is President Bola Tinubu’s tendency to increase tariff, which he said does not correspond with what Nigerians are getting.
Atiku stated this on Tuesday to mark Workers’ Day celebration on May 1.
A statement from the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) noted that the president is subsidising corruption and living in affluence while impoverishing the masses.
Atiku said as Nigerian workers join their counterparts across the world to celebrate International Workers Day, “it is a sobering truth that the plight of the Nigerian worker remains dire.”
He lamented that despite prolonged pledges and flowery words by the government, the much talked-about prospects of wage increment for the Nigerian worker remains a mirage.
The former veepee pointed out that every dawn unveils renewed hardships and harsh living conditions in the current administration.
According to Atiku, “The continued increase in tariffs in different service offerings without addressing the corruption and inefficiencies in the system only amounts to long-suffering Nigerians subsidising the corruption and inefficiencies in the system.”
He noted that since the days of legendary, Pa. Michael Imoudu, to later day fire brands such as Pascal Bafyau and Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the Nigerian worker has been at the forefront of the fight against tyranny and bad governance.
He emphasised that no administration in Nigerian “history has trampled workers’ rights like this one. Daily, workers face uncertainty over skyrocketing prices of essential goods.
“The Nigerian worker has had it so rough under this current administration and it is unfortunate that while the living conditions of the Nigerian worker remains at a miserably low ebb, the Nigerian government continues to regale its international audiences with tales of how the masses are being weaned of their wasteful dependence on government.
“It is thus beginning to appear, that as far as the current federal government is concerned, the management of our country’s micro-economic outlook is an unwieldy laboratory experiment, to which the Nigerian worker is laid prostrate.
“While I cannot but share my sympathy with the Nigerian worker for the way the current government has ridiculed her for far too long, I must equally express my felicitations with the Nigerian worker on this year’s Workers Day.
“It is my hope that the theme of this year’s Labour Day: Ensuring Safety and Health at Work In a Changing Climate, will inspire the Nigerian government to put the concerns of the Nigerian Worker on the front burner,” Atiku stated.