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•Advocates salary review for workers
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has said unless the country strengthens its rule of law and fight against corruption, it would not make progress.
He also called for the review of workers’ salaries in the country.
Abbas spoke at a reception organised in his honour by the Nigerian High Commission in London on Sunday night.
A statement by his media aide, Musa Krishi, quoted the speaker as saying the laws of the country must be such that ensures all Nigerians are treated equally, irrespective of their status.
He lamented the situation where some class of citizens commit crimes and go scot-free, while others are apprehended and prosecuted.
“Unless we are able to strengthen our rule of law to make it in such a way that it affects both the big and the small, and it doesn’t look at the face of whoever is committing an offence, we will never go anywhere,” he said.
Abbas said one of the ways to strengthen the fight against corruption was to enhance the remuneration of workers, so that they could be honest and transparent, and not have cause to look outside their lawful incomes.
He said: “We need to also intensify the war against corruption. No society in this world can ever thrive and be what it wants to be if corruption is the order of the day. But I agree that for you to fight corruption, there are some things you need to do. Let’s take the example of the UK experiment or the Western world. Fundamentally, what they did was to sit down and say let’s look at what an average worker would need to be paid as salary. Come up with a living wage that will take care of the basics of a person such that he won’t be looking outside his lawful income.
“Today, if you’re a labourer in London, you will be paid enough for you to go and pay your rent, take care of your basics and still be able to have a fairly good living. With that kind of incentive, you don’t need to go and borrow, you don’t need to go and beg, you don’t need to go and steal. An average worker earns less than what somebody can use to buy fuel to fill his car tank, you still want that man to be honest and transparent? For us to wage a war on corruption, we need to create an enabling environment where each and every one of us will be able to operate transparently without having to steal, without having to intimidate, without having to go and beg or to borrow.”
The speaker said if the country gets the rule of law working, it would be possible to work on the reforms necessary for fighting corruption.
“In fighting corruption, we also need to create an enabling environment where an average worker should be able to earn enough to live with his family.
“So, my take is that we should fix the economy. Once you fix the economy, people will get employment. People will get good salary, and there will be enough money to fix infrastructure. We will be able to improve education, health and all other sectors. The key is the economy, and in fixing the economy, there are other variables that should be taken care of.”
