The Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporation and Government Owned Companies (SSASCGOC) on Sunday declared that only an increment in minimum wage, provision of enabling environment and palliative for the poor workers can cub or reduce corruption in the country.
To this end, the union called on the governments at all levels to increase the present national minimum wage as demanded by labour and pay workers a living wage, to check corruption.
Addressing a press conference on the 2017 May Day in Abuja, the National President of SSASCGOC, Comrade Mohammed Yunusa said corruption can only be reduce to the barest minimum if workers in Nigeria are well paid.
He advised the government go to the root of the problem and must understand that workers who are not paid well and in genuine need will definitely be corrupt if he or she have access to government money.
Comrade Yunusa emphasized that N 18,000 minimum wage cannot take care of a family, while what a graduate takes as salary in the country today is unacceptable.
He pointed out that apart from increase in salary, the government must provide enabling environment and ensure adequate provision of health facilities, drugs in hospital and health care at minimum cost, while it should also ensure provision of transportation at affordable rate to reduce the burden on workers.
Looking at Libya model, he said the government can provide free transportation for workers, and ensure the availability of portable water.
He described corruption in two ways, which according to him can be those in need and the greedy.
He said: “In fighting corruption, government must tackle it by looking at two ways. First is those in need. This is because there are some people with meagre salary and when genuinely they need money they can deep their hands in government coffer.
“There is also the greedy ones, who even if they have enough they will still want to take from government purse, but the needy can also graduate to the greedy. So government can tackle corruption if workers are well paid”.
Comrade Yunusa also call on the Federal Government to strengthen anti- corruption agencies like the EFCC and the ICPC so that the fight against corruption cab be effective.
“Therefore, a legal framework is urgently needed to make anti-graft agencies truly independent so that we can kill this monster called corruption before it kills us,” he said.
Meanwhile, the association backed the planned concessioning of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, but warned that it must be transparent so as to ensure effectiveness of the corporation.
“We make bold to say that we shall resist any form of reform aimed at discrediting and sending staff of NRC into labour market, under whatever guise be it concessioning, franchise or public Private Partnership”.
and then