The Sanate President Godswill Akpabio says salaries of members of the National Assembly were not enough to take care of demands from their constituents.
Akpabio said this following the debate on a motion sponsored by Abdulraman Kawu Suleiman on Monday, member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) representing Kano South, on the need to avert impending strike planned by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
According to the president of the Senate, with the volume of requests from various constituents represented in the National Assembly, lawmakers’ earnings were too inadequate to cater for those requests.
Defending his motion, Kawu drew the attention of the Senate to the fact that “the strike would cripple the country as movement would be severely curtailed as commercial transport operators would withdraw their services, while markets, schools and healthcare facilities would be forced to shut down.
“The strike threat by the NLC, if not averted, could plunge Nigeria into deeper economic woes, dislocate businesses, hunger, frustration, more hardship that would lead to unquantified financial losses and reduce Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“NLC strike is also a bad reputation for the Nigerian economy and the educational system because it portrays the country in a bad light to the external world and discourages foreigners from coming to do business or study in Nigeria,” Kawu said.
