A former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr Samson Ayokunle, has explained how he almost fainted when the price of a bag of cement increased to N11,000.
Ayokunle, who decried that the price of cement increased over 100 per cent in one week, noted that the country’s economy is unstable.
Ayokunle said this on Friday’s edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Channels Television.
Lamenting the economic situation in Nigeria in the last year, the former CAN president stressed that minimum wage should allow Nigerians to meet the three basic needs of shelter, housing and clothing.
He cited what happened earlier in the year when he bought cement to build a poultry house.
“I was to do a small poultry and they (the bricklayers) said I would need a small house which they call the pen. They would floor it and buy cement. By that time, cement was N5,300. When I learnt that cement was N5,300, I shouted. Only one bag?!
“I paid for the number of cements that were needed for that small pen. But unfortunately, the estimate was not right because the bags of cement couldn’t complete it. They came to me and said everything has changed, and a bag of cement became N11,000. I said, ‘What!’ I almost fainted. How many weeks difference?
“This is the Nigeria we are talking about where the economy is not stable at all. You can’t predict the prices of goods. What is even worse is the price of medicine.”
On the recent minimum wage war between Labour and the Federal Government, Ayokunle said workers should be paid decent living wages that would deter them from getting involved in fraudulent delving practices.
“Minimum wage should be what we allow people to wear clothes, allow them to put food on the table for their family members and allow them to take care of basic necessities like their health.
“Even if they don’t build houses, they should be able to pay their rent. It should be the one that will allow the people to work in offices and not steal,” he said.
The clergyman expressed displeasure over politicians’ insensitivity and ostentatious lifestyles, saying it is unfortunate that leaders in the country have no vision but are concerned about living large at the expense of the masses.
He added, “It is not only corruption that is killing us; another thing that is killing us is lazy leadership. A leadership that is not ready to take the bull by the horn and turn this nation from a consumption economy to a production economy.”
