The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has called for declaration of emergency on workers’ welfare and youth unemployment.
Obi made this call in a statement posted on his verified X handle on Wednesday.
He said that Nigerian workers’ wages have become grossly inadequate to sustain even a modest standard of living.
The former Anambra state governor added that earnings no longer cover basic necessities such as food, housing, transportation, education, electricity, water, and healthcare.
“I read with concern the statement by Nigerian workers, represented by the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, lamenting the grave survival challenges facing workers in the country today.
“If those who are employed are struggling to survive, one is compelled to ask: what is the fate of the over 80 million Nigerian youths in their productive years who are unemployed, without any stable means of livelihood, and increasingly vulnerable to social vices?
“This reality calls for urgent action. Nigeria must declare a national emergency on the welfare of its citizens, especially the unemployed, the poor, and the downtrodden, so that their energy and potential can be properly harnessed for productive and nation-building purposes,” he wrote.
