The Oyo State chapter of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has threatened to welcome 2019 with strikes which will paralyse activities ahead of the general elections should the Federal Government fail to agree to pay N30,000 national minimum wage before December 30.
A unanimous decision was reached by members of ASCSN on Wednesday at its annual capacity building lecture and maiden award ceremony at the Federal Secretariat, Ibadan, to down tools over the minimum wage in 13 days.
The Chairman of the association, Babatunde Balogun, said government activities would be totally paralysed if the agreement could not be reached by the end of the year.
Balogun said the intention of the ASCSN was to mobilise workers nationwide, but if that became unachievable, Oyo State workers would still embark on strike.
A human rights activist, Femi Aborisade, urged unions to mobilise against privatisation of public enterprises and ensure the reversal of all privatised enterprises.
He said privatisation was the highest form of corruption in the nation and he encouraged ASCSN members to put their intellectual acumen to work as they fight against corruption.
“There is a relationship between corruption and poverty. Nigerian citizens are poor because of corruption.”
Aborisade, a lawyer, said the Buhari administration through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, had declared war on Nigerians.
“The economic programme of the APC is a declaration of war against the Nigerian people. They said they will commercialise federal institutions. They have started commercialising the health sector,” he added.
He further stated that public officers should not earn more than 10 times the minimum wage in order to discourage the influx of people with selfish ambitions and encourage only selfless people with integrity as holders of public offices.
