Mbaka calls for N62,000 minimum salary for Nigerian legislators and governors

Popular Catholic priest Ejike Mbaka has chastised Nigerian governors and legislators for “hoarding billions” of naira as benefits but offering Nigerian workers N62,000 as minimum wage.

Therefore, Mr Mbaka, an outspoken cleric from the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, suggested that the proposed minimum salary of N62,000 should be generalized to cover political office holders in Nigeria.

“If we decide to give N60,000 or N62,000, why not generalize it to members of the House of Assembly, members of the Senate, members of the House of Representatives and governors?” he said.

The Catholic priest stated this while addressing journalists on Saturday, Punch newspaper reported.

Mbaka’s comments came amid ongoing negotiations between the government and unions over the new minimum wage for workers in the country after the old one, N30,000, expired in April.

In the resumption of negotiations after the strike declared by the country’s unions, the federal government increased its offer from N60,000 to N62,000, while the unions reduced their demand to N250,000.

But the governors of the 36 states of the federation argued in a statement that the N60,000 initially proposed by the federal government was not sustainable.

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Mbaka questioned why politicians receive huge allowances but treat civil servants like “slaves”, despite the country’s high inflation rate.

“They are all officials, are the others also slaves? I cannot understand why they accumulate billions in subsidies for sitting, for wardrobe, for newspapers and for suffering.

“The people who should receive these subsidies are the ones who suffer in the town.

“How much are our teachers, nurses and doctors paid? Let’s face it, our civil servants who get up early and come back late every day, how much do they get paid?

“If we look at the level of inflation in the country, we will see that not all of us are sincere in this country,” he said.

The cleric urged the government to handle minimum wage issues carefully because “it could be hijacked and no one knows the domino effect.”