The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) are feeding at public expense.
The former vice-president also said the two leaders collect hardship allowances of 50 per cent of their annual basic salary.
He lamented that long-suffering Nigerian workers, who he said were the main sufferers of the hardship caused by the incompetence of the present administration, did not have any hardship allowance and are expected to live on unrealistic minimum wage.
Atiku’s remarks were contained in a statement issued by his Media Campaign Organisation in Abuja on Wednesday.
Atiku spoke in reaction to a statement issued by the Presidency on Wednesday denying reports that President Buhari had accepted a new minimum wage of 30,000 proposed by the tripartite committee.
It alleged that approbation and reprobation “is characteristic of the Buhari administration and that it is evidence of lack of leadership at the very top that is putting our economy in peril.”
The statement read in part, “Just two weeks ago, two of the world’s largest banks, HSBC and UBS, pulled out of Nigeria citing lack of policy stability as their reason.
“This same reason was given by Procter and Gamble when they pulled out last year. In the span of the three years that this administration has been in office, more than 500 companies have pulled out of Nigeria for similar reasons. Nigeria under President Buhari has become synonymous with policy flip flopping.
“A government is only as reliable as its word and if its word is not reliable then nothing else about the government will be stable. This is why Nigeria suffered from a recession under this administration and it’s right now at risk of another recession.
It added, “At the risk of repeating ourselves, we urge the Buhari administration to note that Nigerian workers are the goose that lays the golden egg that top members of this government are enjoying to the detriment of those laying the egg.
“We are aware that both President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo, despite living and feeding at the public expense, collect a hardship allowance of 50 per cent of their annual basic salaries, whereas, the long-suffering Nigerian workers, who are the main sufferers of the hardship caused by the incompetence of this administration, do not have any hardship allowance and are expected to live on the unliveable minimum wage of the Buhari government.”
The statement said the actions of the President and his deputy were a testament to how badly the country had treated its workforce over the last three years.
It said it was during same period that Nigeria was officially declared the world headquarters for extreme poverty by the World Poverty Clock and the World Economic Forum.
“We can only change this by paying our workers a living wage as opposed to the starvation wages now paid to them by the Buhari administration,” the statement added.
The Atiku campaign office called on the President to keep faith with the agreement, which he said his government freely reached with labour and affirm the new minimum wage.
