CSO asks FG, states to stabilize prices of food items to ameliorate hardship

To reduce the hardship being faced by the vast majority of Nigerians, a non-governmental organization, NGO, the Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria, MMWG, has called on the federal and state governments to raise a task force that would arrest and stabilise prices of food items all over the country.

The group, while also reacting to the planned protest by the Nigerian youth over the current hardship scheduled for August 1 to 10 across the country, warned of the dangers inherent in organising or joining any protest whatsoever, stating that the current situation does not warrant such action to take place.

MMWG, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Abdullahi Ibrahim and released on Wednesday, admonished the youth and those collaborating with them to carry out the protest that no matter how peaceful a protest might be in Nigeria, hoodlums and miscreants usually participate in it, thereby turning the whole exercise into crises.

The group reminded the planners and masterminds of the protest that past protests including the #ENDSARS protests in the country left more hardship for the people of Nigeria, with mass looting of innocent peoples’ property, killings, maiming and wanton destruction of private and public property.

It, therefore, called on all those connected with the planned protests across the federation to abandon the idea and opt for dialogue, peaceful and amicable resolution of the issues at stake.

It commended all organizations, groups and individuals that have backed out of the planned protest and urged patriotic Nigerians to join hands with the government in finding a solution to the current economic hardship facing the nation.

On the new minimum wage, the group commended the Senate for its accelerated approach in passing the New Minimum Wage Bill and the 2024 Supplementary Budget of N6 trillion to implement the new minimum wage in addition to other projects.

It also called on the federal and state governments to implement the payment of minimum wage holistically together with consequential adjustments of workers’ salaries and adjust the payment of monthly pensions to pensioners in an equitable manner to make the payment meaningful to the beneficiaries.

The group specifically appealed to state governors to do the same in their states, to make the newly adopted minimum wage impact positively on the lives of the people.